And it Lasted Through the Years
by filesfreak4life
Summary: Sequel to my other fic, "It Began One Night". A series of snippets of their life together... AU Leyton
1. Finally Ready

Author's Note:

This is the second part to my other fic: "It Began One Night", so if you haven't read that you should go check it out. If you don't really feel up to reading all 25 chapters of that one, the basic gist is that this is an AU story. Lucas and Peyton met in a bar in New York city. Lucas is an author and Peyton, as a result of her meeting Lucas owns a record label. Their relationship went slow, but they were shaken when, about eight months or so after they started dating, Lucas' brother Nathan and his best friend Haley were in a car accident and died. Lucas and Peyton were given custody of Jamie, then got engaged and married. They got Jamie through a lot in dealing with his parent's death, and then fought and won custody over Haley's sister who wanted to take the boy away from them.

This is set a year after they got custody. Again, the summary doesn't really do justice, so I would read my other fic first!!!

--

It was a Sunday, the day of rest in the eyes of Lucas and Peyton, church going or not church going. It was a day to sleep in, stay in pajamas, and mentally take a break before the new week started, and it was going to be a big week.

Peyton's label had really started hitting it the last year, with the small release of Haley James Scott's album, which Jamie titled "Living on..." after a comment that his aunt had made a year ago while they were working on it together. Yes, he was eight years old, and had already co-produced an album on an up and coming record label, but Peyton had said that she wouldn't do it without his help. It didn't matter though, because all the money raised was going to scholarship funds, his aunt's idea after the album really took off more than they could have imagined it would.

On any other Sunday, James Lucas Scott would be sleeping, but after his week at school, he knew that he couldn't let this day go by unnoticed, and crept into his aunt and uncle's room quietly. He reached her side of the bed before putting a hand on her shoulder and whispering her name softly.

She mumbled a little bit in her sleep, which Jamie thought was pretty funny, so he said it again, "Aunt Peyton, come on... wake up!"

She opened one eye to look at her nephew, and mumbled, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, will you get up?"

"James Lucas Scott, it is Sunday... what are you doing?"

"Come on Aunt Peyton, I have a surprise for you!" he says, pulling on her arm now.

She sits up in bed, turning to make sure that her husband was still sleeping before sleepily making her way out into the hall and downstairs, following her nephew. "Why didn't you want me to get your Uncle Luke too?"

"Because this is just for you..." he says, looking down sheepishly, before taking her hand and leading her out onto the porch, where he had a bowl of cereal waiting for the two of them and a cup of coffee for her."

"Jamie, what is this about?" she asks, surprised and touched, but curious as to the reason..

"ummm... here." he says, holding out his hand and showing her a card.

It brought instant tears to her eyes as she looked from it and back up to Jamie, who had his eyes turned down towards the floorboards in the porch.

She knelt down in front of him, putting a finger under his chin to have him meet her eyes, "Do you know how much this means to me Jamie Scott?"

"You like it?"

She nods, and suggests that they eat before their cereal got soggy. They sat and ate, enjoying the warm North Carolina air of the late spring, and when they were done, he took their bowls in before coming back out to sit with her on the new porch swing that Lucas had installed for her on their anniversary.

"You didn't have to do this, Jamie." she says, just a hint above a whisper.

"I know, but I wanted to."

"Can I ask you what brought this idea on?"

"We were doing a project in school for it, and my teacher had said that maybe I could do something for my Grandma instead, and then the new kid started to ask me about it."

"That's Nicky, right?"

"Yeah, he just moved a few months ago. But he asked me why I wouldn't make a present for my mom, and I told him about Momma and Daddy's accident, and he said that he didn't get it. And then he asked me about you, because he thought that you were my mom."

"Honest mistake, I guess."

"Yeah, but then he said that I should make my gift for you, because you do all of the things for me that his mom does for him. You love me, you take care of me, and you get mad at me when I don't do something right."

"Well, gee... thanks." she says sarcastically at the last statement he made about the characteristics of a mom.

"It was mostly the loving me part. So I figured that it would be okay to celebrate you on Mother's day because, that's what you are... You're like my second mom."

Her heart warmed when he said it, and she took him in her arms before letting a small tear escape, "You make it so easy for me though, kid."

"Really?" he asks, pulling away with a smile on his face, looking at her.

"Yup... and I have the perfect idea for what we can do today, unless you had some other things planned."

"Well, I saved up enough money to take you to the record store in Tree Hill and get you any CD you wanted, because I thought that would be the best present ever, and I was going to see if me and Uncle Lucas could take you out to dinner tonight.

"Okay, then I say that we do those things, and we can add mine to the list too, does that sound okay?"

"It's your day, so you get to choose!" he says.

"All right, then why don't you get ready and we can be off."

Just a half hour later, they were both ready to go, and Lucas, having had a game to coach the night before was still asleep. So, they left a note for him on the kitchen counter and climbed into Peyton's car for a drive.

"Where are we going?"

"Don't you think you're going to find that out soon enough?"

"Yeah, I guess so..."

"All right then. You pick out the first CD, and we will be off."

Choosing the latest Dashboard album, Jamie sat back, with the window opened, and watching as the scenery passed them by.

Nearly an hour later, they pulled up to a small cemetery, and Jamie looked over at his aunt with eyes full of questions.

Without even answering his look, she reached into the back seat to pull out a bouquet of flowers that he didn't know was there and told him to follow her.

"I want you to meet someone." she says, finally stopping before a small headstone and squatting down next to her nephew.

He looked over to read the name and then understood where they were, "It's your mom... this is where you grew up!"

"Yup. And every year, I try to come on Mother's Day to bring her flowers. I thought that this would be a great thing to share with you, if that is okay."

Walking up to the grave, something that any other eight year old would probably freak out about, he looked up, "Hi Mrs. Sawyer, my name is James Lucas Scott, and it's nice to meet you."

Peyton laughs, coming to stand next to him, bending down to put the flowers up against the granite, "Hey mom. I hope you are having a good time up there. And I hope that you have found Haley and Nathan too. You've got to watch out for them just like we're looking after Jamie."

"Does she know about me?"

"Oh, of course she does. I tell my mom everything."

"And do you think she knows Momma and Daddy?"

"I bet that they are all watching us right now, with big smiles on their faces."

He smiles at the thought and the two of them just stand there for a few minutes before Peyton asks him for a few minutes alone, telling him that he can go explore as long as she can see him.

"So, there's Jamie. He's a great kid, isn't he?" she asks, pausing as if waiting for a response, "I brought him out here because... well... I don't know. It's Mother's Day, and the boy made me breakfast and saved up money to buy me a CD. I don't know, mom, it's not anything that I ever thought that it would be. Raising this little boy means the world to me, and the fact that I get to do it with Lucas, means even more. They are the best parts of me, and I never thought that I would have that. So, I guess, thank you for being my mom and thank you for taking me in and giving me the chance at this wonderful life that I'm living now."

She smiles one last time and lets her eyes search for Jamie, who was sitting by the car waiting for her when she was done.

"Can you show me everything?"

"Define everything, little man."

"Like your house and your school and all the stuff that we have in Tree Hill. I know all about where momma and daddy and Uncle Lucas were when they were kids, so I should know about you too, right?"

"I agree."

So, they did just that, taking a tour of Wilmington, showing Jamie where she grew up, her favorite spots in town to sit and draw, and the docks where her dad came in and out when she was in high school. They ended with her favorite restaurant, a place where she and her dad came every Sunday when she was younger to have lunch.

Nothing had changed since she was little, and she was sure that it was still owned by the same old couple. It never failed that when she stopped in town she stopped at the restaurant, even if just to sit and drink a cup of coffee and watch the passersby.

When they sat down, Peyton immediately recognized the voice that greeted her, "Why, Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, please tell me that is you!"

Peyton stood up, hugging the older woman, "Hi Tina, how are you?"

"I'm just fine! I haven't seen you in years! Last I heard from your dad when he was in town was you were living in New York, so what are you doing here?"

"Came to visit mom on Mother's Day... tradition."

The woman smiles before looking past Peyton and finally noticing the little boy that was also sitting in the booth, "And please tell me that this is your little boy! That blond hair!"

Jamie smiles up at the amusing woman, and extends his hand out to her to shake, "My name is Jamie."

"Oh my goodness! You are too cute! And how nice of you to spend the day with your mom on Mother's Day!"

Peyton moves to correct her before the situation gets uncomfortable for Jamie, when Jamie steps in, "We're going to the music store back home for her present and then we're going out to dinner tonight too, but this is our new tradition, so we had to come here first."

She laughs at the confidence the little boy has, assuming that it comes from his mother, and turns to Peyton, who was wearing a look on her face that couldn't be placed as she watched Jamie interact with a woman who had seen her grow up and then went back to focusing on his menu. "Now Larry never told me that you got married and had a family of your own!"

She was brought out of her thoughts by the woman's comment and smiled at the thought of that word family, which she couldn't deny she had, "Yeah, so it's Peyton Scott now..."

"Well, I'll be... Now you two pick out whatever it is that you want, and it is on the house. Consider it a Mother's Day present."

"Oh, I couldn't..."

"Well, you're going to, so order up."

They did, of course, and Peyton and Jamie had a great conversation about a lot of different things, from what he was looking forward to this summer all the way to what he was excited about for third grade. The lack of correction on his part was never brought up, and there were a few moments where she considered the situation for a moment. Jamie really could be their sun, with his blond hair and his blue eyes, that really looked more like Lucas than Nathan. They joked about that after she had first met the family, saying that she wasn't so sure that Jamie was his nephew, and Lucas had laughed, saying that he and Haley never lived that fact down. Everyone had razzed him about it since the boy was born.

When they got just outside Tree Hill, Jamie spoke over the music, "Aunt Peyton?"

"Yes, Jamie..."

"I know that we are celebrating for you, but..." he starts, not knowing if he should finish asking her what he wants to.

She knew what he was going to ask though, and decided to pull over to the shoulder of the road and reach behind his seat for something.

His eyes lit up and a smile crossed his face when he realized that she had pulled another bouquet of flowers out. "Can we?"

"I thought that we could do this together today, even before you woke me up this morning. I know that it is hard Jamie, and I know that sometimes the best thing that you can do is go talk to your mom. So, of course we can."

"But..."

"Jamie, no matter what, I am always going to be there for you. I am not here to replace your mom, and I loved your mom very much. So whatever you want me to be for you, I will. I will be Aunt Peyton, I will be your uncle's crazy wife, I will be mom, I will be psuedo-mom. No matter what the title is, I know how much your mom means to you. All you need to know is that she loved you and that I love you very much. You don't ever have to worry about hurting my feelings."

He leans over the center console to give her a hug before settling back into his seat, "Okay."

She nods and pulls back onto the road, making their way to the cemetery where Nathan and Haley had been buried nearly two years ago.

"You want me to come over there with you?"

"I think I want to talk to her alone..."

"All right, then I will be right here waiting for you."

It wasn't the first time that he had been to his mother's grave. They came for their birthdays each year, bringing flowers and each taking a moment to talk.

Today was different though. Ever since that week at school, Jamie felt like things had changed. Nothing had changed at home or anything like that, but in his head and in his heart, there was something different going on. That was definitely something that he wanted to talk to his parents about.

"Hi Momma, Hi Daddy. Aunt Peyton brought me to see you today, and I brought these flowers for you since it's Mother's Day."

He rested the flowers next to his mother's name, just like he saw Peyton do at Anna's grave, and then he looked up again, not really knowing where to begin.

"I miss you guys a lot... but it is okay here. Aunt Peyton and Uncle Lucas take really good care of me, and they are a lot of fun. They say that I'm a lot like you guys, so that makes me smile. We talk about you all the time, and Uncle Lucas tells me stories from when you guys were in high school and he didn't like Daddy and then you fell in love. They make me laugh a lot, but they don't let me get away with anything either. Uncle Lucas says that I'm too much like Daddy when it comes to getting in trouble. But don't worry, they punish me and make me do chores, so it isn't always fun."

He sits for a while, trying to figure out how this next part is supposed to come out, not wanting to hurt his parents just like he didn't want to hurt his Aunt.

"Aunt Peyton showed me where she grew up, and I got to meet someone who's known her since she was little. It was really cool, and she was so excited that Aunt Peyton was married and had a family. She thought that I was Aunt Peyton's son, and it was just like when I was at school and Nicky had thought that Aunt Peyton was my mom and Uncle Lucas was my dad. I told Nicky about you guys, but I didn't say anything to the lady we met today. I miss having a mom with me. I know that you guys are still there and I know that I'll always have you. That's what Uncle Lucas and Aunt Peyton tell me all the time, but sometimes I wish that I could just say that they are my mom and dad." he says, his eyes going wide after realizing that he had said it out loud. "I didn't mean that!"

As much as an eight year old can, he felt bad for his admission, and then he thought about what his Aunt had said to him earlier. They weren't going to replace his mom and dad. They never would, but maybe it would be okay to think of them like that.

He took a few more minutes, talking it out with the heavens, before telling his parents that he loved them and walking back to the car.

"You okay?"

He smiles when he looks at her and tells her that he is and thanks her for bringing him there that day.

"You're welcome. Any time you want to come visit them, you can. You know that we'll take you."

"I know... Now, can we go to the music store and get you your Mother's Day present?" he asks, with a little sparkle in his eye that again warmed her heart.

After nearly an hour at the music store, with Peyton dragging him around and showing him all the best artists, they finally found themselves back at home, with Lucas waiting for their arrival.

"Did you guys have a good day?"

"It was awesome! She showed me where she grew up, and I got to meet her mom, and I got to meet this lady Tina that has known her since she was little. And then we went to see momma, and then we went to the music store."

"Well, obviously it was fun for you.. how about you?" he asks, pulling her in for a kiss.

"It was wonderful."

"I'm going to go put away my new CDs, and then Uncle Lucas, can we take Aunt Peyton out for dinner?"

He laughs at his nephew, realizing that he had really started to take after the two of them with some of the things that he did, especially his music. "We sure can."

"Sweet!"

He watches him run down the hallway and up the stairs before turning to look at his wife, who was still staring off after the boy.

"Hey..." he says with a bit of concern in his voice.

"It's good, it really is... we had a great time today."

"What brought it on?"

"You didn't know that he had this planned?"

"Nope."

She sighed, with a smile on her face, again marveling at the heart of that little boy she loved so much. "Apparently they were creating a Mother's Day card at school, and his friend was confused as to why he wouldn't write the card to me."

"I bet that was hard on him."

"It wasn't though, he said that he realized that his friend was right, so he wanted me to have a good Mother's Day."

"And..."

"I think it was the best first Mother's Day ever."

"Then why do you have that look on your face?" he asks, and she looks back up at him with a smirk on her lips that tells him that she hates how well he knows her.

"It made me think about some things."

"Okay..."

"You remember our honeymoon?"

"You're kidding me right? How could I not remember a full forty eight hours of you and me in bed together with no clothes on?"

"Lucas!" she says, swatting at his chest as he puts his hands on her hips and pulls her closer.

"Yes, I remember our honeymoon."

"Do you remember the big conversation we had on our honeymoon?"

"Yes..." he says, knowing now what she was getting at.

"He's ready. I'm ready."

"Really?"

She nods with a sheepish grin on her face, the color rising in her cheeks at the possibilities.

"Okay..."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, I'm definitely sure, and I'm pretty sure since our first real date I've been sure."

"You're such a liar!"

"I am not... Don't you remember me walking you back to yours and Brooke's place and asking if I could kiss you?"

"Yes, I do."

"There were fireworks, Peyton Scott... definite fireworks."

"So we're going to do this?" she asks, trying to make sure that this is really what he wants.

"What are you going to do?" Jamie says catching just the last part of the conversation they were having.

Peyton and Lucas share a look before knowing that they needed to share this latest development with their nephew.

"What would you think about me and your Aunt Peyton having a baby?"

"Really!? I'm going to be a big brother?!" he says, clearly excited about the idea.

"Well, not yet, Jamie. We aren't having a baby yet, but we just wanted to make sure that you would be okay with that." Peyton says, trying to calm him down for a moment.

"Oh... so I might get to have a little brother or sister soon?"

"Well, they would be your cousin, but yeah..."

"I guess, but to me, they'll be my brother or sister, and I would really like that." he says seriously, making Lucas and Peyton smile.

"Okay then... what do you say we take Aunt Peyton out for her Mother's Day dinner?" Lucas says, clapping his hands together.

They move to go out the door, but Jamie is staying behind for a moment, causing the two adults to turn back around.

"I know that you guys are my Uncle Lucas and Aunt Peyton, but you make a really good Mom and Dad too."

–

Okay, so this is the first of many chapters in part two of "It Began One Night". Like I said, there will be times where it skips a few years, like this one skipped a whole year after Lucas and Peyton got custody over Vivian and Michael. I hope that you enjoy this one as much as the last one, and I hope that it is something that you didn't think was too cheesy.


	2. A Hero Is Born

Baley Sawyer Scott was a force to be reckoned with when she didn't get what she wanted, which, really was a rare occurance as it was. Screaming, tantrums, and stomping her tiny little feet until someone noticed that she was upset.

Usually the only person that could bring her down from that craziness was her cousin, whom she only knew as her big brother, Jamie.

"Come on Baley! It's okay!" he says, stroking her hair and pulling her into his lap.

"Ball!" she says, as the tears flow silently down her cheeks and the crying has turned to sniffling.

"Do you want your ball?"

She nods, looking up at him with those emerald eyes that match Peyton's so perfectly, it's eerie.

"Okay, I'll ask Mom for it... Mo... Aunt Peyton!!" he says shouting over her head.

"What?!" Peyton says, calling from another room.

"Baley wants her ball, and I don't know where it is."

"Well, it's probably where she left it the last time."

"Where is that?"

"I don't know Jamie, probably in her room. Why don't you go check there. I'm trying to get food ready for us to eat when your Uncle Lucas gets home from practice."

Lucas was still coaching, and now back in school getting his teaching certificate so he could teach P.E. It was really the perfect gig for him, since he would get the summers off so he could write and spend time with his family. And with Peyton running her own label, she got to choose what hours she worked, so it was absolutely perfect for them.

It was a few months after they had started trying that Peyton had gotten pregnant with Baley, named after Brooke and Haley, in a creative way suggested by Lucas. Peyton didn't have the heart to not give some honoring to Brooke, and she wanted more than anything for the baby to be a part of Haley, who had given her so much in the short time that she knew her.

Jamie was ecstatic having a baby sister to show off, and now that she was old enough to start talking, he loved it even more, trying to teach her all the words that he could. Considering her first word after Mama and Dada was Jama, they knew that the little girl was smitten with her older brother, which is exactly what they treated him as after her birth. It didn't matter that she wasn't really his brother, but his cousin, he just knew that he was a part of this family and he wanted to be the big brother.

Taking her into her room, they started looking around for her precious ball. "Where did you put it?"

She shrugs her shoulders in that innocent two year old way, "Don't know?"

"Oh, Baley, what are we going to do with you."

Finally after about ten minutes they found the ball and made their way back into the living room.

"We found it! It was in the cushion of the glider in Baley's room!" he shouts into the kitchen.

Getting no response, he shouts again, "Aunt Peyton, did you hear me?"

He knew that she was trying to get dinner ready, so he left his sister in the living room with the TV on and playing with her ball to go see if his Aunt needed help in the kitchen.

"Aunt Pey...Aunt Peyton!!!!" he says, rushing over to where she was lying on the floor.

As he rocked her body, she wouldn't wake up, so he ran over to her cell phone and dialed 911 before coming back to her again.

"_911 What is your emergency?"_

"She's on the floor and I can't get her to wake up! She was cooking dinner and she didn't answer me..."

"_Okay, do you know your address?"_

"1901 Old Post Dr. in Tree Hill."

"_All right, someone is going to be right there. What is your name?"_

"Jamie."

"_Okay, Jamie, can you go unlock the front door? Who is home with you?"_

"It's just me and my sister and my Aunt Peyton."

"_Is your aunt the one who is on the floor, Jamie?"_

He answers her and she keeps asking questions until the ambulance gets there. And as they are taking her away he leans into her one last time, "Come on Aunt Peyt, I can't lose another mom... You have to be okay!"

They take her away with Jamie screaming "Mom!" after her, finally breaking down.

His sister sat by with a policeman who had come after the ambulance, playing with her ball with no cares, since she didn't really understand what was going on.

"Son, we need you to help us call someone to come get you." the police officer says as they are sitting there after Jamie had calmed down.

"My Uncle Lucas" he says just as the back door opens and Lucas walks in, his face going white at the site of police officers and no Peyton and his nephew running frantically to him.

"They took her away in an ambulance.... I can't lose my Mom again... I can't lose my Mom again."

He picks the ten year old up, which is quite the feat now that he is older and rubs the back of his head, trying to calm him down. "It's okay, Jamie, It's okay.... she'll be okay. What happened?"

"The little boy found her unconscious on the kitchen floor. We don't know how long she had been that way, but he thinks it was just for a few minutes. They took her to Tree Hill General."

After thanking the officers, he calls his mother, screaming into the phone that they are on their way over and Peyton's in the hospital, asking her to watch the kids.

It's when they're in the car, that Jamie says that he's going to the hospital with his Uncle.

"No, Jamie, it's going to be too crazy over there, and you don't need to be around that. Stay with Grandma Karen, okay?"

"No, I want to make sure that Aunt Peyton is okay!"

"Jamie..." he warns, turning to look at the boy.

"Mama?" Baley says from the backseat, causing Lucas to break his stare.

"Mom's going to be okay, Baley. We're going to the hospital, and you're going to stay with Grandma." Jamie says, again enforcing the fact that he was going to the hospital to see Peyton whether or not Lucas thought it was a good idea.

"Grandma!" she says, excited at seeing her grandmother again that week.

"All right, you can go... you did good tonight Jamie, calling 911 like that. I'm proud of you."

"I should have went in to help her with dinner earlier."

"Nope, there was nothing that you could do with this, Jamie. And she's going to be fine." he says, partially trying to convince himself of that fact as well.

They dropped Baley off at Karen's and Lucas didn't even acknowledge the raised eyebrows he received from his mother when he said that Jamie was coming with him to the hospital.

When they finally got to the hospital and inquired about Peyton, they were told to wait until someone came out and got them. Then it seemed to all come crashing down on Lucas. He was immediately met with the scene from nearly four years ago, waiting to find out if Haley and Nathan were okay. It was the same waiting room as that night, and he looked across the room to see the door that led to where Jamie had been. Jamie hadn't really been thinking about any of that, not remembering much of that time here, and only remembering coming to the hospital when Baley was born. So, when his Uncle sighed and put his face into his hands, he turned and put a supportive hand on Lucas' back.

"Family of Peyton Scott?" the nurse called out and the two of them jumped to their feet as fast as they could.

"Is she okay?"

"She should be just fine. We're going to let you come in and see her. She's been asking for her family for a while now."

They were led down the hallway and out of the emergency room into a hallway that held some more rooms for patients that seemed a little less severe, and as they opened the door, Lucas let out a large sigh at the sight of his wife sitting up in her hospital bed.

"Peyton!"

"Hey... I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"I don't know, Luke. One minute I was fine and the next minute, I just got this really bad pain and I fell to the floor. I don't remember anything after that."

"Jamie called 911, after he found you." he says, and Jamie peeked out from behind his Uncle, for some reason shy at the situation.

"James Lucas Scott, you are my hero."

He just nods, looking at her with a look of awe that she was there and okay.

"So, what did the doctor say?"

"Well, I'm waiting for the results of a few blood tests that they ran, so it's a waiting game as of right now."

"Okay, then we'll wait."

Four hours of waiting later, Lucas couldn't stand it any more. They had the TV on, which Jamie had taken to watching, while sitting next to Peyton's bed with his hand over hers. He hadn't talked to her in those four hours, which concerned her, but she understood what that could have done to the poor boy.

"I'm going to find someone."

"Lucas, don't be mean, okay?"

"I'm not going to be mean, I'm just going to yell, is that okay?"

She laughs at him and shoos him out the door to find someone, leaving just her and Jamie in the room.

That changes quite quickly as the nurse comes in to check on Peyton, addressing her first and then turning to talk to the little boy as she checked Peyton's vitals.

"So, I hear that you called 911 and saved your Mom tonight, young man. That was very brave of you."

"That's what you're supposed to do, right?" he says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yes, it is, but it was still very smart of you to do it." she says to him again, and then turns to the woman in the bed, "You are very lucky to have such a wonderful son, Mrs. Scott. We don't get to hear these hero stories much down here."

"I am very lucky." Peyton says, letting her eyes lock with Jamie's when she says it.

After proclaiming that everything seemed to be going all right, the nurse left, and that left the two of them alone again.

"She's right, you know?" she says quietly, trying to get the boy's attention, which works, because he turns before she continues, "I am very lucky to have you, Jamie Scott."

If Lucas was able to have his breakdown, then Jamie was surely allowed to have his own, so he didn't say anything, but scooted closer to where Peyton was on the hospital bed. Patting the spot next to her, he crawled into the bed, resting his head on her shoulder before starting to speak.

"It was scary. You didn't answer when I told you that we found Baley's ball, and then I went into the kitchen and you were on the floor, and you wouldn't answer."

"Jamie, honey, I'm okay now." she says, stroking his hair in a similar way to the last time he was laying in a hospital bed.

"But you wouldn't answer, so I called 911, and then the ambulance came, and you wouldn't wake up. Why didn't you wake up? I need you here, and you didn't wake up."

"Jamie..."

"I don't want to lose another mom..."

She thought that was what he was thinking, but hearing him verbalize it made her hurt for the little boy, so she took his face in her hands, sitting up so she could look him in the eye.

"James Lucas Scott, I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, okay? I am okay now, and there is nothing that you have to worry about. You did the right thing tonight and I'm so proud of you, and I'm so glad that you were there for me. But you are not going to lose me or your Uncle Lucas, do you understand?"

He nods, not speaking, but turning to rest his head on her shoulder again.

Twenty minutes when Lucas came back in with the doctor, that is exactly how he found them, only Jamie had fallen asleep after the exhausting night.

"He was tired..."

"Long night for him, and it brought up some bad memories." she says, causing Lucas to get a concerned look on his face. "He should be okay now, but we need to talk to him more when we get home... which will be when, Doctor?"

The doctor then sits down in the chair across from Lucas and Peyton as he starts to explain what exactly happened that evening.

"We did find something that you need to be aware of." he starts, and the couple freezes for a minute.

"I assume since you didn't say anything, that you did not know that you were pregnant?"

Shocked, all Peyton can do is shake her head as the doctor explains that they need to do an ultrasound to confirm that everything is okay since the pain had been located in her abdomen.

"Am I miscarrying?" she asks, tears flooding her eyes at the thought.

"Since there hasn't been any blood loss, I'm going to say that you and the baby are still okay, but there are a few things that the pain teamed up with the pregnancy could mean, so we need to follow up with that."

"Okay, when can we do that?"

"Well, I will make a call up to OB and see if they have anything available for today, but if they don't, then I suggest that you make the necessary calls to your own Obstetrician to set up an appointment."

"But for right now everything is okay?"

"The pain apparently shocked you a little bit more than you were prepared for, causing the blackout, but everything seems to be okay with you, all your blood tests came back normal for a healthy, pregnant, woman. I don't see why we can't get you out of here this morning."

Lucas groans a little bit at that, "Oh, it is already that late?"

The doctor chuckles before he answers, "I'm afraid so. And I'm sure that the two of you need to get this little guy home, so I'm going to make a few calls and send somebody in here to get you ready to go home, okay?"

"Thank you doctor." Peyton says as he waves a goodbye to them.

They sit for a moment, taking in the news they were just given, and trying to wrap their head around the idea.

"Another baby." she finally says.

"Yeah." he says, not really showing any emotion in his confirmation.

"Lucas."

When he turns to her, the look on his face matches her own, a look of sheer joy at the idea of having another baby together.

He leans down to place a kiss on her cheek before whispering a thank you into her ear.

"For what?"

"For being you, and for giving me all of this."

"Well, I guess I owe you a thank you too then."

"Nah..."

She smiles, and then turns to look down at Jamie, who was still asleep on her shoulder. "He called me mom."

"He's been doing that a lot lately. He refers to you as mom whenever he's talking to Baley. Didn't you notice?"

"I did, but I didn't want to say anything."

"You scared him tonight Peyton and you scared the crap out of me too... but we're going to be okay, and so are you... and you." he says so sincerely that a tear forms in her eye as he directs the last statement towards her stomach.

"Fatherhood looks good on you Lucas Scott."

"Yeah, I think Motherhood looks pretty good on you."

"I think so too."

"I'm also thinking that it's a boy."

"Lucas, two minutes into hearing that we're having another baby and you already think it's a boy?"

"If you recall, right after you told me you were pregnant with Baley, I said that it was going to be a girl."

"I bet it's going to be another girl."

"Care to place a wager on that, Mrs. Scott?"

"The first month of diaper changes."

"Woah... now let's not do anything crazy here."

She laughs quietly, trying to not wake Jamie, "Not so sure of yourself now, huh?"

"A month of diaper changes it is... I say it's a boy."

She shakes her head before looking down at Jamie again, smiling that he could still sleep through their bantering, and also noticing the small smile that found its way to his lips.

–

Okay, so this one gave you a little bit of drama, ending with a happy bit of... well... happiness!!! So, get excited. I'm not telling you what's wrong with Peyton or anything like that, because you can all use your imaginations for that!!!

Read and Review, and ENJOY!!!!


	3. The Secrets They Share

He'd be lying if he said that part of him was glad it happened the way it did. It didn't mean that it hurt any less, but the decision was made for them.

It was months ago that they lost the baby, but it seemed like it was still so fresh in their heads and in their hearts. She wasn't talking about it to anyone, and he figured that if she wasn't talking he didn't have to. Peyton was his sounding board, the one he always went to with anything that he was feeling. But this… this was a Haley problem, which is exactly where he took it.

"Okay, Hales… you've got to help me on this, cause you know me, and you know how I deal with things. I can't help her." He says, looking up to the sky as if his best friend was going to materialize in front of him to fix all of his problems.

"When the doctors said that there was a chance of losing her or losing the baby anyways, I thought about it… ending it. Then I wouldn't have to worry about any of it. More importantly, I wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of losing her. Can you believe that I was actually that selfish?... Yeah, I know, Peyton said that I was being a dick too. I just can't seem to shake it now. Peyton isn't back to her normal self, and we lost the baby months ago. I just can't talk to her about it anymore. Well, not even anymore, because I think that we never did talk about it. God, Haley, we were so excited for another baby. Jamie is amazing as a big brother, and Baley is… well, Baley is living up to her namesakes, because I swear that she is a little mom, just like you were, but she's got the bite of attitude that Brooke has too. I think that Peyton knew it right off the bat when we had her, but I'm grateful for that. But now… I know that we want another baby. I know that we do, but we can't even be in the same room together without it being awkward. And it's me and Peyton… you know us… we could sit without a word for hours. I just… I need some help."

With a final look to the sky, and a gentle hand to the headstone in front of him and the one next to it, he got back into his car and headed back home.

It was just as he left it earlier that morning, quiet and peaceful, but he could hear Jamie in Baley's room whispering while he kept her entertained until either Peyton or I woke up.

"You are the best big brother in the entire world, you know that?"

He just smiles, looking over at Lucas with a flash of pride in his eyes, then turning his attention back to Baley, who was holding her hands out for her father.

"Is Peyton up?" he asks, picking up the little girl.

"No, I think she's still sleeping… do you think she'd like us to make her breakfast?"

"I think that is a great idea Jamie Scott." He says, high fiving his nephew and walking quietly down the hall to prepare the breakfast.

"Can I go wake her up?" he asks, after setting the table.

"Be nice about it…" he says with a warning tone, knowing that Jamie's preferred method of waking him up when he is told is to jump up and down on the bed next to him.

He nods, knowing exactly how he wakes up his Aunt… their own secret.

Climbing up into the bed with her, he moves so he is facing her, and whispers out to her softly, "Mom…"

She scrunches her face up, not opening her eyes or moving an inch from her comfortable spot in the bed, so he calls out to her again, "Mom? We made breakfast…"

A small smile forms on her face then, and she lets one eye slip open, taking in the face before her. "Waffles?"

"French Toast AND pancakes…"

"Good mix." She says with an impressed tone.

"Good cooks." He says back to her with satisfaction.

"Where did your Uncle Lucas go this morning?"

"I think he went to see Momma… but he didn't tell me."

"Is your sister up?"

"Yeah, I was playing with her this morning while you were asleep."

She reaches out to caress his cheek in a gesture that tells him that she appreciates how good he is to the little girl.

"I suppose that I have to get up now don't I?" she says, sitting up in the bed.

"Only if you want food…"

"Well, I do want some food, but I need to freshen up a bit. Can I join you in a minute?"

He looks at her for a few seconds, taking in her morning appearance, just awoken and smiling at him. "I think you're fine, but we'll wait for you."

She smiles at him again, knowing that he is the only person who can get her to really smile anymore aside from her little girl. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Love me forever?"

"Already livin' it, kid."

He laughs and gets out of the bed, leaving her there to collect herself, before turning back to watch her for a minute. She takes a little bit each morning now, just sitting up in bed and letting things process for a bit. She looks up first and then rubs a hand across still sleepy eyes before allowing the same hand to fall to her stomach for a lingering beat. He noticed it before, but never said anything, knowing that it was something that he wasn't really supposed to talk about. They told him what had happened in the simplest of terms, and he had been upset at the loss of his new baby brother or sister, but after all he had lost before, he knew that it would be okay.

"Hey, Mom?" he asks, quietly, startling her a bit.

"Yeah, Jamie…"

"It's going to be okay." He says with a wisdom far beyond his nearly eleven year existence.

She cocks her head toward the door in a gesture that tells him to hurry up and go get his breakfast, but it's with a smile on her face, so he knows that it's okay.

Then she processes for a little bit more before getting up and joining her family.

"How'd you sleep?" Lucas asks, putting a hand on her back as he leaned over to give her a plate full of food.

"Good… you were gone this morning."

"Did I wake you up?"

"Not really, I just felt you leave."

"I went for a walk."

"Oh." She says, not inquiring more than that… leaving it on the table but obviously not wanting to talk about anything else.

"So, what should we plan to do today?"

"Can we go to the park for a little while? The one that's by Aunt Brooke's house with the skate park?"

"That sounds like a good plan! We can go after Baley's nap and bring some lunch." Lucas says, trying to make a day out of the suggestion. "Peyton?"

"Yeah… that sounds like a good idea." She says softly, seemingly not convinced.

"Sweet!" Jamie says, jumping up out of his seat to clear off his plate.

So the day went on as the small family made their way to the park down the street. It was Jamie's favorite place, and was immediately found right after they moved into the new house.

Jamie skated while Lucas took Baley over to the swings for a while.

Peyton sat. Always an observer of people, she sat, watching her family members go on with everything. If she was lying, she would say that she was fine, that she was totally over it. If she was being honest, she let her mind drift every time she processed what day it was. Beating herself up, she would mentally calculate how long she would have had until that baby would be born.

She knew that it wasn't what she should be doing, and it killed her every time, but she still did it anyway, feeling the pang of emptiness as she thought of the child that only lasted four months inside of her before finding its way somewhere else.

Then she heard it. The unmistakable sound of bone cracking, and then the blood curtling scream of her child.

"MOM!"

That was all it took for her to snap out of it, as she sprinted towards the screaming boy, and looked back to see Lucas also running towards them with Baley.

"Jamie, honey, what's wrong?" she says, reaching him and trying to figure out what hurt and what they needed to do.

He rolled over and she saw the awkward angle of his arm and knew that he had broken it.

"Luke!" she calls her husband over, "We've got to get him to the hospital. I'm pretty sure that it's broken."

Handing his daughter over, he picks the young boy up, walking as quickly as he can to the SUV that they had just bought this past year in anticipation of a bigger family. Laying him down in the back seat, he moves to the driver's side door as Peyton is strapping Baley into her car seat and then going into the back with Jamie, whose cries are still hiccupping sobs.

"It's okay, baby, I'm here… I've got you." She says, stroking his hair in a comforting gesture.

"You ready?" Lucas calls from the front and she nods.

They make their way to the hospital in record time, probably faster than the day she went into labor, but it still didn't seem fast enough.

When they pulled into the hospital drive, Lucas got out to get him out of the car and they were met by a nurse with a wheelchair. After placing him in the wheelchair, Peyton got out, claiming that she would got park the car and bring Baley in.

"No!" Jamie says through his tears.

"Okay, I'm coming." She says, not blinking once.

"I'll park and I'll call mom, and see if she can come get the baby." He says quickly as she nods while walking away with the little boy.

Hours later, sitting in the hospital after his bone was set and the pain had subsided, she waits with him.

"You can't ever do something like that to me again."

"I don't think I ever want to." He says, shaking his head as she lets a small smile curve at her lips at the boy's innocent honesty over the situation.

"I mean you scared me Jamie! I can't lose you…"

"I won't skateboard ever again… I promise." He says with the most serious tone he can muster.

She chuckles a bit to herself and strokes his hair before planting a kiss on his forehead. Then she holds onto him, for reasons purely selfish on her part.

She meant what she said about losing him. After the year they had, she knew that something so tragic would have made her come undone. She also knew that she might be being a tad over dramatic at having those thoughts, but she figured that she had the right. So she held onto him a little tighter than she needed to, and he completely understood every second of the gesture.

"Mom?"

"Yeah?" she says, pulling back from him.

"You aren't going to lose me."

"Jamie, I know that honey, you just scared me."

"I know…" he says, thinking for a minute about the situation, "Can I tell you something?"

"Anything."

"Do you know why I call you Mom?" he asks, seemingly out of the blue.

She has actually never questioned the endearment. It was never spoken of after that Mother's Day nearly four years ago. He always referred to her as Mom when talking to Baley, and in the moments when it Is just them. She never thought to question it, even though it meant the world to her.

"Why?"

"After Momma and Daddy died, you and Uncle Lucas came in to take care of me, and it made it all easier. I knew that you guys loved me and I knew that you loved them. Uncle Lucas is a lot like Daddy, probably because they're brothers, but you've always reminded me of Momma. You're silly all the time, and you're happy, but you can be serious when I need you to be, and I can tell how much you love me. Even when Baley was born, you made me feel like I was important to you and that you loved me."

"I do love you, Jamie."

"I know. I just thought that you deserved it. My real mom and dad are always going to be my Momma and my Daddy. You told me that you wouldn't replace them, but you and Uncle Lucas can be my Mom and my Dad, and I think that's okay."

"It is more than okay."

"You're the best Mom ever, Aunt Peyton. To me, and to Baley. I know you've been sad, and I know that you and Uncle Lucas wanted to have another baby…but even if you don't want to any more. You'll still be my Mom. Okay?" he says, ending his thought and looking at her for a reaction.

"You know what, Jamie?" she says finally, with a tear in her eye. "I think that you have a lot more of your Uncle Lucas in you than you think, because I don't think I've ever heard such perfect words."

He smiles back at her and they go back to sitting in silence, waiting for the casting and then discharging that comes with the broken arm that he now sported.

When Lucas came to get them, he noticed a change in her. A weight had been lifted, and when he placed the little boy in the car to drive him home, he just whispered in his ears, "She's okay now, Dad."

His eyebrows went up at the endearment, but he, like Peyton, didn't question it, and smiled down at the young boy who was so much more than just a nephew to him.

Lucas understood the meaning behind his words later that night, as he lay in bed with his wife, and she finally started talking.

"I think that I want to try again." She says, quietly after they had been laying there for a few minutes in the dark.

"For another baby?" he says, knowing full well that is what she meant.

"Yeah."

"Are we going to talk about this?"

She knew that he wasn't referring to the idea of trying again, but what had happened before, so she started with a sincere thought that broke him a little more than he expected, "I thought that it was my fault."

"Peyton…"

"I know now that it wasn't. It never was, and there was nothing that I could do about it, but I just felt like it was my fault that something happened. Even before we lost him, and the doctor said that there was a problem, I blamed myself. And then I didn't let you in…" she says, turning to face him and reaching across to touch his cheek in the most intimate gesture they had shared in months.

"I understood."

She shakes her head at that, "But, I still shouldn't have done it. I just thought that I was a bad mother. That I couldn't have that baby… I thought that maybe God had decided that I wasn't really cut out for this..."

"Peyton, you are the most amazing mother, and I don't think that Jamie or Baley could ask for a better woman to claim as their Mom."

"Jamie got it today…"

"He really is more insightful than he should be at this age." Lucas says, and feels the bed shake at her giggle in response. "But, he usually knows what he's talking about."

"That he does. You know what he said to me today?"

"Hmm?"

"He said that Nathan and Haley are always going to be his Momma and Daddy, but that we were a great Mom and Dad."

"Is that why he called me Dad in the car today?"

She nods, as she feels his arm come over her and pull her in closer to him.

"So, you want to try again?"

"I love being a Mom, Luke… I never knew that I would love it this much, and I just…" she starts and then pauses to think for a minute, "… yeah, I do."

"I would be more than okay with that…" he says in a suggestive tone reeking of innuendo.

"Well, I didn't think that you would complain about the process." She says laughing, "but really?"

"Peyton Scott, you have no idea how much I love that you want to make this family bigger, and I don't think that I could wish anything more than that for the two of us… I love you, and I can't think of something that would make me happier than having another baby with you."

She smiled at him through the darkness and it seemed like everything fell back into place.

So, of course, another four months later, nearly two months after their lost son would have been born, Lucas found his wife in tears in the bathroom.

"Peyton, we've got to stop meeting like this…" he says, sitting down next to her.

"Well, last time you found me like this, it led to us eloping."

"And now…"

"I'm pregnant." She says, smiling up at him.

"Really?" he says with wonderment.

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"Thoughts?"

"Honestly?"

She nods her head up and down.

"While I'm so unbelievably excited that I could run through the house screaming, I—"

"Which you will _not_ do, because of our sleeping children."

"I am scared to death."

"What if I told you it scared me too?"

"That would make me feel a little bit better."

"Well, start feeling better, because I'm scared shitless." She says, laughing, and then sinking into his chest as he pulls her toward him in a hug.

"We can do this, you know that right?"

"Yeah, we can."

"I love you Peyton Scott."

"You know, I don't think I'm ever going to stop loving the way that sounds…"

"I hope you never do." He says, kissing her so sweetly that she knew that it was all going to be okay.

--

Okay, there is part three of the random little vignettes that are going to make up this story. Let me know what you're thinking about them, cause I like writing them. I think that the next one is going to flashforward a few years instead of just a few months, so get ready for it. And big props to one of the reviewers for the inspiration to write Jamie's little speech. So, thanks to StarlightSweetheart for the ideas!!

Keep reviewing, and I hope that you keep enjoying!!


	4. The First Day

"Mom?" he says, coming down the stairs a little loudly.

"Yes?"

"Do I really have to do this?"

"By this you mean…" she says, pausing as he is just staring at her like the typical teenage boy would his mother, "What exactly?"

"High School."

"Jamie, most kids are dying to get to high school. Independence, new setting, cooler classes."

"Yeah, a basketball legacy to live up to, being the kid of a past teacher who died, and being a member of the Scott family…"

"You had all those things in Junior High too."

"You didn't grow up here, Aunt Peyton!" he says, getting more frustrated.

"Oh, don't you Aunt Peyton me, mister… you are going to be FINE. I assure you that all adults have gone through this before, myself included. You will survive and you will come out in one piece."

"Come out in one piece for what?" Lucas says, coming into the kitchen with a two year old blonde on his hip and a five year old blonde trailing quickly behind.

"High School!" Peyton says, shaking her hands in the air dramatically like it is some scary thought.

"Oh, that…" he says, rolling his eyes at the drama that came when Jamie hit puberty.

He was still every bit Haley and Nathan, strong willed, athletic, kind… and most like his mother, he was dramatic. He didn't like change, at least not in his school things. He was a high achiever thanks to the brains he got from the James side of the family, and was always striving for perfection. The love of basketball was in him before he could walk, so that was something that they kept up with. The swimming was something that stuck with him since he was younger as well, and something that he planned on sticking to at the high school level. But the hormones on the kid were enough to drive his aunt and uncle crazy.

"You do realize that we both survived, your parents survived… all adults have gone through this before!" he says, and then watches his nephew's mouth drop open.

Jamie just grabs a bagel from the bag on the kitchen counter and walks back up the stairs, ignoring the giggles coming from his aunt.

"What did I say?" Lucas says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Nothing that I didn't, babe. Don't worry about it."

"Mommy." Her daughter says, looking at her with a very serious expression on her face.

"Baley." She matches with an equal expression.

"We can't be late."

"Baley, honey, we are not going to be late, I promise."

"Are you sure?" she asks with her eager little five year old voice.

"Yes, I'm sure."

As Peyton moves around the kitchen getting various breakfasts taken care of, Lucas gets himself ready for the day, finding all of his things for classes and kissing "his girls" before walking over to the door.

"You're kidding me right?" Peyton asks, as she sees him standing at the doorway.

"What?"

"I've got a fourteen year old boy upstairs who does not want to go to his first day of high school. I have a five year old little girl who is practically dragging me out the door for her first day of Kindergarten. And I have a two year old who…" she says, looking over at Katie with a smirk on her face, "can't seem to find her mouth when she eats bananas. And you're going to leave me."

"Not the right choice?"

"Can you at least get him to come to school."

"Oh, he's going to school." He says in that fatherly tone that suggests that over his dead body is that kid going to miss going to school that morning.

"I'm well aware of that Lucas, but why don't you go up there and talk to him, and maybe you can take him with you early so he can settle in while I get your daughters presentable for the rest of the world?"

"That would be the good choice, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm not going to be able to walk out of here without the drama, am I?"

"Nope."

"So, I should go take care of Jamie?"

"This is what I'm sayin'"

He just smiles at her, pulling her close to him for a kiss before retreating upstairs to knock on his nephew's door.

"I don't want to go."

"Well, too bad, cause you're going."

"Dad, this is stupid."

"Jamie, I don't get it… how is this different? You've been going to school with these people since you were little, and all the sudden you don't want to be anywhere around them?"

"It's just… it's high school. It's all different."

"How is it different?"

"I don't know. You guys all went to Tree Hill High, and everyone knows my name there, and it's just a lot of pressure."

"Jamie, they knew your name last year in eighth grade and the year before that. It doesn't change anything."

"You and my dad hated each other in high school right?"

"Until Junior year… yeah, we basically wanted to kill each other."

"And my Mom and Dad got married when they were in high school, right?"

"Yes."

"And Mom went on that crazy tour, right?"

"Yes."

"And you guys had all of the school shooting drama and stuff, right?"

"Jamie, is there a point to any of this?"

"You never told me any stories from junior high or elementary school. All your stories with my mom and dad came from when you guys were in high school. It was huge, and everything changed, and people changed, and…"

"And you're worried that you're going to change or someone is going to change to make everything different."

"YES!"

"Kid, I hate to tell you, but part of growing up is dealing with the changing. Stuff's going to happen, and people are going to come in and out of your life. You just have to deal with it."

"This is just a big day."

"It _is_ a big day, and I'm so proud of you for getting here. But, you have to actually go…"

He rolls his eyes before putting on that trademark Scott grin and grabbing his bag.

"So, we're going?"

"We're going." He says, then making his way down the stairs to see his sisters dressed and ready for their day.

"Jamie!" Katie screams, seeing her older brother.

"Katie Kate! Are you going to have a fun day today? It's just you and mom!" he says, with an excitement that makes her giggle.

No one could look at them and tell all the tragedy and drama that had surrounded this family name, especially this boy who was well on his way to becoming a man. He had grown up so much in the past few years, and Lucas saw in him that same desire that Nathan had of belonging to a family, of having those people around you that loved you.

His bond with his youngest sister Katie, was probably stronger than anything, especially because of how she came to be, after a talk that Jamie had with his aunt. And when she was born, and he was given the task of coming up with a middle name to go with her name, Elizabeth, he picked Katherine, which he later told Lucas and Peyton was a name his mother had thrown around after finding out she was pregnant. They thought that it was the perfect first name, and ended up naming the little girl Katherine Elizabeth Scott, and from the very first time he held that little girl, she was putty in his hands.

Baley, on the other hand, outgrew her big brother, which Peyton and Lucas were surprised at and terrified at, especially thinking towards her adolescent years. She still loved him, but fought with him as much as a five year old can fight. She claims that he always treats her like a baby and that he's just a "stupid boy" in her words. But Jamie remembers all those times when it was just him and Baley, reading together on the sofa in the living room or playing hide and go seek when she could finally walk, so he claims it's a phase.

It was a great life, and they thank their lucky stars for each other, even though the circumstances that brought them her were tragic at best.

"You guys should get going." Peyton says, grabbing the little girl out of his hands, and placing a kiss on his forehead.

"Mom, ew…"

"Oh, stop it. I may not have changed your diapers, but I still get to have my gushy moments. You've grown up, Jamie Scott."

"yeah yeah."

"Tell your sister goodbye."

"Bales, you do the Scott name proud in Kindergarten, okay?" he says, leaning down to talk to her.

"If we ever GET there!" she says, tapping her foot loudly on the hard wood of their kitchen floor.

He just laughs at his sister, knowing that the attitude she had came straight from Peyton, and loving the little girl all the more for it. "I'm sure that you and mom are leaving soon… take a chill pill pip squeek…"

"Don't call me that!"

"Hey, if the shoe fits, kid."

"James Lucas Scott, you better not be tormenting your sister, and you better be making your way out that door to the car."

"Yeah, yeah… I'm going." He says, turning again to kiss her on the cheek before walking out the door.

Lucas hung back for a moment to kiss his wife goodbye and tell his little girls that he loved them before walking out to meet his son at the car.

After the house was free of the Scott men, the girls double check hair ties and pigtails before piling into the family's other car on the way to Kindergarten.

"Is Miss Kay going to be there today?"

"She's your teacher, of course she's going to be there." Peyton calls to her from the front seat.

"I'm going to learn how to read today, and then I can grow up and be an author like Daddy."

"You don't want to be like mommy and her music?"

"No, I want to be like Daddy."

"Well, thanks, Baley…" Peyton says, laughing at the old assumption that little girls wanted to be just like their mommies.

They pull up to school with plenty of time to spare, since the little girl had been ready so early for the day anyways, and Peyton got both kids out of the car with little to do.

"Here we are! Let's go to your classroom!" Peyton says with a spring in her step and Katie on her hip.

Halfway up the driveway, she realized that she was missing a very important piece to this first day of Kindergarten… the student. Upon turning around, she sees Baley walking back to the car and trying the door handle before turning around and sitting down on the ground beside it.

"Baley Sawyer Scott, what are you doing?" her mother asks, approaching her with a questioning look on her face.

Then, the lip begins to quiver and the eyes start to flood. "I don't want to go to Kindergarten!"

Let the crying begin.

"Baley, sweetie, you've been so excited about going to school!"

"I want to stay home with you and Katie! I don't need to go to school."

"I hate to tell ya kid, but you need to go to school if you want to learn to read and to become an author."

"Then I don't want to be like daddy anymore, I want to be like you… I don't have to go to school to do music stuff."

Peyton looks down at the little girl, laughing at the child's mind, and thinking to herself that she was probably just like this when she was younger.

"Even mommy went to school, baby… you have to go."

"No, I'm not going."

"Well, sadly, you don't have a choice, kiddo… so we're going to get up and walk over into that building, and you're going to school."

"Mommy!"

Yes, this was Peyton's child, all bite and sass, and drama… oh the drama the little five year old stirred up on a regular basis.

"Baley, you're going to school… There is nothing that you can do, that is going to let you stay home with me all day."

"But what if you forget about me? What if I need you?"

"I'm not going to forget about you, and you are not going to need me. In fact, once we walk in, I bet that you'll forget about me anyways."

She narrows her eyes in a gesture so much like her father that it causes Peyton's breath to catch in her throat as she holds back a laugh.

"What if I don't like it?"

"Then you come back tomorrow and you try it again."

"Baley School!!" Katie says, pointing in the direction of the other children.

"See, even your sister knows that you are supposed to be walking in that building. So you need to be brave and you need to get in there before they start without you. Then everyone is going to learn how to read and all those things before you."

At this, Baley perks up, because the competitive streak she gets from her father starts to show. No one can do something before her, and she wasn't about to start that now!

"I thought you might change your mind." Peyton says, under her breath as the little girl stands up and starts to slowly walk towards the school.

When they get to the door, she peers in at the room, all bright colors and fresh name tags. And tears.

Kindergarten was rough on the first day of school. The moms were crying the kids were crying. It was absolute chaos, and Peyton had to laugh to herself as she watched the scene unfold before her.

Yes, that little girl was hers and Lucas' child, perfectly content to pave her own way as she figured out that she had to hang up her back pack and found a nametag with her name on it. With one look to Peyton, the little girl pointed to the name tag and sat down at her seat. And with a wave to her mom and little sister, she waited for everyone else to figure out what they were supposed to do.

Peyton waited for a little while, making sure that Baley was really over her outburst from the morning, and then watched as the moms started filing out of the room with tears still in their eyes and Kleenexes in their hands.

Once she got to the car, she had a minor freak out moment.

"Brooke!" she says into the phone that she had pulled out.

"_Hey P. Scott, What's up?"_

"I'm a horrible mother!!"

"_What?! Peyton, you're like super mom. Are you kidding me?"  
_

"I didn't cry! All the other moms were crying and hugging the crap out of their kids and freaking out, and I just let Baley walk in and sit down and I waved! I'm a horrible mother."

"_No, you're just a normal human being. These moms know that they are getting their kids back, right?"_

Peyton laughs at this, knowing that she made the right choice in calling her best friend, "Brooke, it was just weird. Why didn't I cry?"

"_You've already gone through the school thing with Jamie."_

"But Jamie was already in school when we came into the picture. Baley's new at this whole thing."

"_Yeah, but even though he's not yours biologically, Jamie is your first. Since he was settled, you were settled."_

"So, I'm not a bad mom?"

"_Nope, the best."_

"Are you sure?"

"_There is nothing that I'm more sure of in this life… now what do you have planned for the rest of the day?"_

She thought for a moment, realizing that it really was odd only having one child to cart around with her for the day, and not a child that could very well hold a lot of conversations with her. "I don't know. I hadn't thought that far ahead."

"_Then I'm flying to Tree Hill. I'll stay for your first week of back to school happiness."_

"Brooke, you don't have to do that!"

"_I know I don't have to, but hey, the jet is sitting there, why not use it?"_

"I love how important and successful my best friend is."

"_Speaking of which, did Baley have the new clothes on? Was she adorable? Did you take pictures?"_

"Pictures!!! See, I am a bad mom! The first day of school and I didn't take pictures!"

"_So take them when she gets home."_

"You remember my daughter right? You realize that by the time she gets home, there will be a run in her tights, her braid will be half undone, and she will have already lost a button or buckle on something that she wore to school this morning. It's inevitable." She says, picturing the little girl in her cute outfit this morning, and picturing what she could possibly look like after school.

"_No pictures on the first day of school… wow, you are a bad mom."_

"BROOKE!" she screams back into the phone, laughing.

"_Listen, I've got to get some stuff done, but I'll fly into Tree Hill tonight and maybe we can do dinner and plan out some stuff to do for the week?"_

"Sounds good B. Davis."

"_Caio!"_

With this, Peyton hangs up the phone, glancing over to the school where she had just dropped her daughter off. Then she glanced to the back of the car where her sleeping two year old was. Apparently her conversation with Brooke was enough to bore the little girl into a nap.

"You better not grow up this fast Katie Kate…" she says, glancing between the school and her daughter again, and wiping a tear of her cheek.

Yeah, she was a good mom… she just didn't freak out in public like all the other crazy moms.

--

Okay guys here is the random piece of fluff that you asked for. I'm thinking that now I'm going to stick with the freshman year thing for a few chapters, and then I'm going to work on another little time jump. I'm not going to do flashbacks as people have asked about, because I want you to fill in the blanks yourself. I may fill in some blanks in a similar fashion as how I threw in the part about Jamie naming Katie. You will know all. A big thanks to the long reviewers, cause you guys are really helping me with the story! I'm also going to get more into the relationships they have with the new kids as well. I'm also going to get a few Leyton moments in there too, cause I keep going away from that to focus a bit more on Jamie. I'm working through it though, so just wait and see!

Keep reviewing, and keep enjoying!!


	5. Date Night

"So, did you ask her?" Lucas asks his nephew as soon as he gets to the car.

Jamie blushes, looking over to him before sheepishly nodding his head.

"…and?"

"She said yes."

Tree Hill High was continuing in its winter formal tradition, and Jamie had discovered girls. Well, he had discovered them before that very moment, but he hadn't shown any inclination towards asking them to dances or out on dates before this.

"You've got the Scott charm."

"Dad…"

Lucas starts the car, laughing at the boy's embarrassment and pulling away from the curb.

"… is that how you won over Mom?"

He thinks back to that night, seeing her clearly in his head as she attempted to get the loser off her back as he shamelessly hit on her with cheesy one liners and bad drink offers. He would be lying if he said that she didn't still make his breath catch like she did that night.

"I know that it helped… you know that story, she couldn't resist me."

"No… you never told me."

"What? We've told you how we met!"

"Maybe when I was little, but I don't remember it. You told me how Momma and Daddy met in high school, but you never told me about you guys. I know I remember Momma on the phone with you after you met her, cause she kept saying that all you talked about was Peyton Peyton Peyton." He says, poking fun at his uncle.

"Well, that's no better than Emily this and Emily that!" he says, pointing a finger back at his nephew.

"So?" he says, rolling his eyes at Lucas' making fun of him and the girl that had stolen his heart so quickly.

"Long story short, some idiot loser was trying to hit on her and buy her a drink, and she wasn't interested. But, he wasn't leaving her alone. If you ever see that happen, try to save the girl… it sucks to be on the receiving end of bad pick up lines. So, I went over and acted like I knew her and like she had been waiting for me."

"So, you saved her from another guy and then _you_ tried to get her to talk to you?"

"It totally wasn't like that though, and we ended up talking and I kind of thought that she was amazing. And she had told me a few things about herself like how she worked in an art gallery, so I found her."

"Okay… we've gone to New York to visit Aunt Brooke… there are a lot of galleries in New York."

"I still found her. That's what did her in for me. I brought her flowers and asked her out almost a week later."

Jamie smiles, loving the story, and loving that his Uncle still smiles while talking about it. He admits that he loves watching them. His other friends always complain about their parents being kissy face or lovey dovey, but Jamie loves it. He watches his Uncle stare at her when she's reading on the couch next to him, and he watches his Aunt smile for a minute after he whispers something in her ear. He knew that he wanted that some day, and he thought that the best role models for that were Lucas and Peyton.

"Nice."

"yeah, we seem to think so. So, how did you ask Emily to formal?"

"I had flowers for her, and every guy on the swim team gave her one each class period. Then at the end of the day, I came up with one last bunch of flowers and I just asked her."

Lucas raises his eyebrows at that, surprised that a teenage boy could give this much thought to asking the girl out.

"Impressed?"

"Very…"

"I saw it on some movie, and I thought it would be cool. And… girls like flowers, so I figured that couldn't hurt my chances either."

"So you know this means that we have to get you outfitted with a tuxedo, right?"

"A tux? Really?"

"Yup. You choose to ask the girl, that means you dress up for the girl too."

"Sure, dad."

Once they made it into the driveway and then into the house all talk of the dance was had. Lucas thought he had it covered and Jamie thought that he was done with talking, until Peyton saw the smile on his face and knew.

"She said yes, didn't she?" she asks, clapping her hands in such a giddy fashion that Jamie had to laugh at her.

He blushes, much like he did with Lucas in the car and tells her that she did in fact say yes.

"So the flowers worked? I told you the flowers would work, and you were soooo worried about it."

"Wait! You talked to her about asking a girl to the dance, but you didn't talk to me?" Lucas says, turning away from his youngest daughter and back to Jamie and his wife.

"She's a girl. She knows girl things." He says with a shrug.

"That I am and that I do. Other than that, how was your day?" she asks the teenager with a smile.

"Pretty good, glad that it is over though… it felt like a long one."

He sighs a bit before slumping down with a pop that he grabbed from the fridge.

"Well, I'm sorry that you feel so old there grandpa!" Peyton jokes, swatting him with a towel as he sits down across from his dad and little sister. "You need to walk it off?"

"Yeah, actually, that would be nice."

"On your way walking, you mind swinging by the school and walking your sister home?" she suggests, knowing that the two hadn't been spending that much time together, and the six year old attitude was starting to be a lot worse than the five year old attitude.

"I could probably manage that, as long as she doesn't kill me."

"She won't kill you… she might ignore you, but never kill…"

He walks out the door, walking the four or five blocks down to the elementary school, waiting for the bell to ring. He saw her then, a girl he had never met before or seen, with brown curly hair and a fierceness in her eyes that reminded him of someone that he knew but couldn't place.

They waited on opposite ends of the school, obviously both waiting for someone to get out, and not really saying anything to each other. He wanted to go introduce himself as she looked his age and was obviously someone new to the town, but something stopped him, and then the bell rang.

"Jamie?" Baley asks, coming up to her brother after walking out the door and expecting to see her mother waiting to walk home with her.

"Yup… I went for a walk and mom suggested that I come walk with you from school. We haven't gotten to have a Baley/Jamie talk in a while."

"Yeah, well, you're too busy for me."

"Not true, kid. I'm never too busy for you."

"Uh huh… Swimming, the swimmer guys, Emily, school…"

"Well, in my defense, you haven't wanted to talk to me at all either."

"That's cause you're a boy." She says in a matter-of-fact way that has him smirking.

"So that's what they are teaching you in first grade, huh?"

"No! I learn a lot in school."

"Okay, well, what did you learn about today?" he asks, and she proceeds to tell him all about her day as they walk the short distance back to their home catching up.

That was the one thing that Lucas and Peyton had wished, and at the same time were grateful for. Jamie was eight years older than his next sibling, and eleven years older than his youngest. It was great because it gave him the sense of the protective older brother that they both know he got from Nathan, but sometimes it was hard because it separated the kids so much.

From the moment they had a "sibling" for Jamie, they worried. After all that the little boy had gone through, they thought that maybe he really would think that they were just trying to replace him or that they didn't want him. They had never treated him any different than their biological children, but they still feared that he would feel that way.

It was moments like this though, hearing the two of them out in the driveway with a basketball laughing that it all worked out for them. He set her backpack on the side of the house and proceeded to help her shoot free throws from the painted line on the driveway, just like any awesome big brother would, and that he was. From the moment the little girl came to be, he was smitten with her. He said once to Lucas and Peyton that he was never going to let anything bad happen to her. Save for a few bumps and bruises from wrestling a little too rough, he has kept his promise, even when her little attitude got in the way.

"You know, you're pretty good at that."

"Mommy says I've got the Scott genes."

"You do! You know my real dad was an NBA basketball player, so you've got all that in you too."

"Uncle Nathan?"

"Yup."

"Who's my real dad?" Baley asks, looking at him with a confused look on her face.

"Well… dad is…" he says, trying to come up with words that would make sense to her.

"But if you have another dad and mom, then why do you call mommy and daddy that?"

He sits down in front of her now so he can be level with her and pauses for a minute before finally coming up with an answer that he felt was right. Lucas and Peyton had explained to Baley about Uncle Nathan and Aunt Haley, but never really got into the specifics of everything with her for fear that it would confuse her more.

"My real mom and dad had to leave and go up to heaven when I was little."

"Why?"

"Grandma says that it's probably because God needed them for something really important up there."

"Oh."

"But when they left, they told mom and dad, who are really my Uncle Lucas and Aunt Peyton, to take care of me for them. So, they do, and they do everything that a mom and dad would do, so after you were born and I said that I would always treat you like a sister and not a cousin, I decided that they were really more like a mom and dad than an aunt and uncle."

"So, you're my cousin?" she asks, confused by the whole thing.

"Technically yeah, but you'll always be my sister, Baley."

"Okay… Jamie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad that Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan told mom and dad to take care of you."

"Really? Why?" he asks, eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face.

"Cause even though we fight, you're still a good big brother." She mumbles, letting her head tilt down towards the ground.

"And you are definitely one of the two best little sisters in the world… that is if you can learn how to throw a decent free throw."

She looks up and him and smiles before standing up and grabbing the ball and walking back over to the free throw line to practice.

Of course, because parents have a nack for catching those sappy sibling moments, Lucas and Peyton held onto each other from the side door, smiles plastered on their faces.

"You know that it's only going to get worse as she gets older right?"

"Well, she's _your_ daughter, so that doesn't surprise me one bit. It also doesn't worry me at all… especially with Jamie."

"Really?"

"Scott men know how to handle Scott women."

"Oh, you handle us, huh?"

"We do." He says, leaning in to kiss her before their other child begins to feel neglected sitting at the table with her hot dog and macaroni.

"Daddy, eat with me!"

"Why don't we all eat together, how does that sound?"

Katie throws her hands in the air with a gesture that screamed that she couldn't care less one way or another, "Okay."

They had called them in from the driveway and they sat around the table sharing stories about their different days. Lucas always loved these moments the most, and thought of Nathan and Haley more when he looked around the table. He knew that they had already started thinking of Peyton as family and could have pictured this in their head for Lucas' future. And with the addition of their son, he hoped that his best friend and brother were smiling down at them, glad that they had made it work, despite so many things getting in their way.

Weeks later, when it was time for the winter formal, Brooke came knocking on the door just as Jamie was getting ready to hop in the car with Lucas and go get Emily.

"Brooke! What are you doing here?" Peyton says, opening the door to her friend.

"Well, I heard that Jamie had his formal tonight, and he and I both figured that you and Lucas could use a night to yourselves for a change, so I'm taking these guys over to my place for the night, and Jamie is going to call me to come get him and Emily later."

She turns to Jamie, who was sheepishly waiting by the door, "You did this?"

"You and dad don't get to go out anymore, so I thought it would be nice." He says, shrugging his shoulders.

"What would be nice?" Lucas says, before noticing they had company, "Brooke! What are you doing here?"

"I'm babysitting, and you are going to your bedroom to quickly change into something nice so your wife can get in there and dress to impress for your evening out." She says, matter-of-factly, pushing Lucas toward the stairs to emphasize what he needed to do.

He, of course didn't question it, and went upstairs to change, coming back down in a pair of dark jeans, a button up top, and a sport jacket.

"Wow, you clean up nice, Scott." Peyton says, teasing.

"I'm going to go take him to the school, so you'll be ready when I get back?"

She nods before hugging Jamie and watching the two of them go out to the car. Then, with assistance from Brooke, Peyton got food in front of her two remaining children and went upstairs to get ready for her evening.

It wasn't too long after that a small set of footsteps could be heard outside the bathroom door.

"Baley, what are you up to?" Peyton says, putting on some mascara in front of the mirror.

"How did you know it was me?" Baley says, peeking around the corner to look at her mother.

"Because mommy knows everything."

She giggles when her mother reaches down to tickle her sides and then lift her up onto the bathroom vanity.

"You look pretty Mommy."

"Well, thank you…"

"Are you and Daddy going on a date…?" she says with that little voice that insinuates mushiness.

"Yes…" she says back in the same tone.

"Mommy?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"Is Jamie my brother?" she asks, finally deciding to bring up the subject with one of her parents after talking about it a few weeks ago with Jamie.

"Well, he's really your cousin, but he's a lot like a brother to you, so what do you think?" Peyton says, stopping what she is doing to stand in front of the little girl.

"He's a really good big brother."

"He is… you know he was the first one aside from me and Daddy that got to hold you. He was so excited to get a baby sister."

"He was?"

"Yup. I remember when you were in my tummy and he would talk to you and tell me how he couldn't wait to meet you."

Putting her face down towards the ground, she asks another question that had been lingering since her conversation with Jamie, "Are you going to have to leave like Uncle Nathan and Aunt Haley did?"

Peyton sighs at this, taking a moment to collect her thoughts before even attempting to answer her six year old daughter. "Honey, your daddy and I love you and Katie and Jamie very much, and we will always try to make sure that we are here for you. Uncle Nathan and Aunt Haley didn't want to ever leave, but sometimes things happen. And if they hadn't gone away, you wouldn't have such a great big brother in Jamie."

"Okay."

"Baley, honey, what made you think about this?"

"I heard Sammy's mom talking at school to another mommy about you and daddy. They were talking about you and daddy and Jamie and something sad that happened."

"What happened with Uncle Nathan and Aunt Haley was very sad, but now we are very happy and your daddy and I have three awesome kids that we love very much."

"And you're in looooove…" she says, in that same mushy tone from earlier.

"Oh Baley Sawyer Scott, you are going to be a handful when you get older, you know that?"

"Am I going to meet a boy and go on dates when I'm older."

"If your brother and father have any say in that, no… but I think that one day you are going to meet your very own prince charming who's going to save you from something and you're going to fall madly in love with him."

"I am?" she says with wide eyes at the fairy tale thought.

"That _is_ what happened to mommy…" Lucas says, making his presence known to the girls before walking up behind Peyton and planting a kiss to her cheek and wrapping an arm around her waist.

Peyton laughs as he says it and then again when Lucas picks their daughter up, hanging her upside down on his back claiming that her mother needed time to finish getting ready and they needed to pack bags to go stay with their Aunt Brooke for the evening.

Hours later, when the kids were gone and their dinner had settled, they came home, sitting with each other on the sofa in their living room.

"This was a good idea."

"It was." Lucas says, taking her foot and rubbing slow circles on her ankle.

"We don't get to do this much any more."

"We haven't gotten to do this much in the past nine years when you really think about it." He says with a laugh.

"Has it really been that long?" she asks with an awestruck look on her face.

"Jamie's fifteen now, Peyton… he was six when Nathan and Haley were in the accident."

"I just can't believe all that has happened." She says, and lets the silence settle over them for a little while, something that they very rarely get to enjoy any more. "You think about where we would be?"

"Without what happened?"

"Yeah…"

"We would be exactly where we are right now, but our kids would be a little closer in age." He says with a glimmer in his eye and she slaps his arm.

He laughs and shakes his head before continuing, "I was so close to asking you to marry me, Peyton. I would have probably right when I came home from that book tour if the opportunity presented itself, and then we would have gotten married with that big wedding that they all threw for us. Nathan would have been my best man and Haley would have stood up with you and Jamie would have still been the ring bearer, maybe with his sister in tow. Then we would have gotten pregnant right away-"

"You wanted me knocked up that bad, huh?" she says, taking her feet out of his lap and moving to sit next to him and lean her head on his shoulder.

"With a brand new baby around… you wouldn't have lasted that long." He says, laughing. "And you would have made that record with Haley and it would be a smash hit and…yeah… I think about it."

"You know that I would have given anything to have them be okay that night, but all things considered, I wouldn't have changed a day of this life with you Lucas Scott." She finally says with a sincerity that melts his heart.

He moves to face her, putting a hand to her cheek and pulling her close. "I'm going to love you forever, you know that, right?"

"Forever?" she says with an eyebrow raised.

"Not too scary anymore is it?"

"Not scary at all." She says with a grin, standing up and pulling her to him with a smile, and leading him up the stairs to really take advantage of a quiet house.

--

I know that this one was a little bit longer. I hope that you enjoyed the Baley/Peyton, Leyton, and Baley/Jamie interaction. That is what people were asking for, so I figured that I would give it to you. There are a few other things in there that I added that will come into play later, but yeah. I'm enjoying writing it, so keep reviewing and tell me some moments that you would like to see/read!!

Thanks for the reviewing and the reading! You guys kinda rock!!


	6. Just Talking

"So, we've gotten past the basics… now you can tell me the truth." She says, a smile on her face as the words come out of her mouth and his eyebrows shoot up.

"What do you mean?"

"I might be new this year, but I've heard."

"Oh." He says, looking down.

"Baley isn't your sister… she's your…" she starts, pausing before he supplies the answer.

"How long were you going to let me get away with not saying anything to you?"

"Obviously not much longer seeing as I'm the one who brought it up. Was it hard?"

He knew what she was referring to, and he was used to the question, and used to the answer that he gave everyone. However, he couldn't just give her that answer, something told him that it was cheating her out of something if he were to do that.

"I was little, but yeah. I went through a lot of stuff, and I remember blaming myself for all of it, and I remember even blaming my aunt and uncle for it too. But then they stood by me. They made sure that I felt safe and they made sure that my real mom and dad were kept alive for me, so I'm getting there."

"You mean you aren't already there? You refer to them as your parents, and your cousins as your little sisters… isn't that being there?"

"It's hard to explain…" he starts before the bell rings and children start busting out of the doors, one in particular towards him at a glaring speed.

"JAMIE!!! I did it!!" Baley screams, attacking her brother and attaching herself to his legs.

"What did you do, Baley?"

"I got the part!! I'm the head flower in the spring play for 1st grade!"

"Wow!" he says, looking back towards the girl who had taken up all his waiting time to see her with her little brother walking the opposite direction.

She glanced back for just a moment before offering up a small wave in a gesture that said that their conversation would continue at another time.

"Mom and dad are going to be very very proud of you." He says, high fiving her and starting off in the direction of the house.

When they got there on that mildly warm spring day, they were met with the laughing sounds from their parents and the giggles of the littlest Scott coming from the living room. Baley of course interrupted the nice moment by running screaming into the room to tell her parents about the play and the part of the lead flower, which they of course gushed over her for.

"I'm glad _you're_ excited!" she says to her mother from her spot on her lap.

"What, your big brother wasn't happy for you?" Peyton asks, looking over at Jamie with eyebrows raised.

"He was too busy with his new girlfriend…" she says with a pout.

"What new girlfriend? Did you and Emily break up?" Lucas asks, standing from his spot.

"No! She doesn't know what she's talking about. There is just a new girl that started this winter who waits for her little brother at the same time I go to walk with Baley."

"Huh…" Peyton smirks.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, that just explains why you offered to go get your sister for the rest of the year."

"Mom, it's nothing." He says, rolling his eyes before saying that he had homework to do and walking up the stairs to his bedroom.

A few hours later, it's Lucas who comes to his door telling him that it is time for dinner before broaching the subject of this girl that he was speaking about earlier.

"So… what does Emily say about this new girl…"

"What do you mean?"

"Have you told her that you've been talking to another girl?"

"Why would I tell her?"

"Why wouldn't you tell her?" he asks, giving Jamie a look that shares his feelings.

"It's not like we're doing anything wrong Dad. We just talk while I wait for Baley and she waits for her little brother. It's no big deal."

"Does she go to Tree Hill High?"

"Yeah."

"Okay… do you talk to her there?"

"I'm way too focused on school stuff and swimming and basketball to talk to anybody…"

"Jamie…"

"What? I don't get it…" he says, standing up and walking down to join the family for dinner.

It was a tense dinner that evening, Jamie not wanting to talk much and Lucas kind of disappointed in him. Clearly because of the way he was defending it, this innocent relationship with another girl wasn't so innocent.

Peyton and Jamie had a totally different relationship than Jamie and Lucas though, and they had always been able to talk about the tough stuff, the awkward stuff that kids normally couldn't talk to their parents about. Peyton knew that, so she let him slide for the weekend, not bringing it up again.

Monday, however, was a different story. Monday, when he went to pick up his sister, he didn't realize that his mom had already left to do the same thing, and he spotted her talking to the other moms. Of course, Riley spotted him before he could turn back towards home and not have to deal with the confrontation.

"Jamie!"

He walks over to her without a word, just a nod in her direction.

"What? I don't even deserve a hello?" she asks with a quirked eyebrow that he had come to love about her.

"Hey."

"Well, aren't we enthusiastic?"

"No… I… I just had a long weekend, and it was a long day too."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really." He said growing silent quite quickly.

A few minutes later, he heard footsteps headed towards them and glanced up to see Peyton walking their direction.

"I guess we had the same idea." She says, reaching the teenagers.

"I've been picking Baley up from school for months now…"

"yeah, well, I felt like I needed the walk…"

"Nice, mom." He says with a bit of a bite to his tone.

"This is your mom?" Riley asks, interest obviously peaking.

He nods and then watches the two interact.

"Hi, Mrs. Scott, it is so nice to meet you! Jamie has told me so much about you and Mr. Scott. I feel like I already know you guys."

"Baley told us that Jamie was talking to a girl who had a brother in the class next to hers, so it is nice to meet you as well. I hear that you're new to Tree Hill."

"Yeah, I moved from the Chicago area."

"Long haul…"

"Yeah, and it's an adjustment. I like the small town better than the suburbs, but sometimes it's hard."

"Lucas and I used to live in New York, so I can understand that." She says with a laugh.

"Jamie told me that the two of you met in New York. He was telling me about the time he spent there when he was younger."

She turns to Jamie now, with a quizzical look on her face, "You remember that?"

"I used to love coming to visit you guys." He says with a shrug.

Then as soon as Peyton opened her mouth to say something the bell rang and the children started filing out. A few minutes later, one of the other moms from Baley's class came over and offered to host a play date for the two girls for a few hours before dinner. Of course Peyton agreed, and she watched as Riley found her little brother and they started to walk home, which of course was what Jamie had started to do.

When she caught up to him, he was expecting a lashing from her, which of course he didn't get.

"You've talked a lot?"

"Yeah."

"What's up?" she finally asks him, putting a hand on his arm and making him stop and face her.

"I don't know… I saw her there one day and I don't know. I just wanted to get to know her, so when I started to come get Baley after school, we started to talk. She just gets everything. I can tell her everything, and I don't feel like I have to filter all of it. And she asks me about things, you know? Like she's the only person who has really asked me about momma and daddy in a long time."

"Jamie…" Peyton says, realizing that maybe some of this was because of them.

"No! It isn't you and Dad. I meant like of my friends. It's like everybody knows about everything and apparently they still talk about it, because that's how Riley found out. But she asked me about it. Like she _really_ asked me what I was feeling, and I didn't feel like I had to give her the text book response that I was over it and all was well."

They start walking again as she takes in what he said. "And what is the response that you want to give people."

"That I'm not over it and I never will be. That is was hard and it is hard. That you and Dad are the only people that remotely get it. That every now and then I miss them."

"You know that's okay, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do, but it was nice to have someone besides you and dad say that to me."

"So, she's your Brooke…"

"What does this have to do with Aunt Brooke?"

"When I was little and my mom died or all that crap happened with my birth mother, Brooke was there. She got it, and she could read me like no one else. She always knew what the text book answer was, and she always knew when to bust my ass to get the real answer out of me."

"So she's kind of my Brooke."

"Yeah, kind of… seeing as I never wanted to date Brooke." Peyton says with a laugh that causes Jamie's mouth to gape open. "don't deny it Jamie Scott, because I know you. It's okay."

"No it isn't."

"Why?"

"It's not fair to Emily."

"Well, that is something that you're going to have to figure out on your own."

"You can't just tell me what to do?"

"Matters of the heart need to be decided on by the heart owner. But, if you are going to start a relationship with Riley, then you need to talk to Emily about it."

"You're right."

"I know." She says, smiling in his direction and seeing him smile back at her.

The month flew by and before you know it, it was time for the first grade spring play, starring Baley Sawyer Scott. At least that is what she thought that all of the programs and things should say. The whole family showed up for her including Brooke, who flew down from New York. The Jamie/Riley/Emily situation was solved simply. Jamie still liked Emily a lot and while Riley understood him and he loved talking with her, he didn't see ruining the friendship they had gained to try a relationship. Well, as much of a relationship that a sophomore in high school could attempt to have.

The play was adorable, kids forgetting lines, kids tripping, a few grabbing inappropriate places or picking their noses. It was the perfect first grade play, and Baley was hysterical. Even Jamie admitted that his little sister had a future in theater as she delivered her lines perfectly and she milked the audience for all they were worth. He saw Riley's little brother in there as well, so he knew that she would be there, which meant he wanted to avoid her at all costs.

Easier said than done.

"Hey, Jamie! Baley did a great job up there. Me and my mom were dying." She says with a laugh.

"Yeah, well, don't tell Baley that, cause it'll go straight to her head." He says, laughing at the truth in his statement.

"A.J. did a good job too, you know."

"Yeah, he makes a good bumblebee."

"Yeah…" he says shyly, all of the sudden growing flustered with her around and her all dressed up to come see the play.

"Jamie? Your dad said to come find you. We're going to go get some ice cream." Emily said, coming over to find Jamie talking to another girl that she had seen around but didn't know very well. She paused for a minute after telling him of the plans, giving him an opportunity to introduce the two girls.

"Oh! Riley, this is my girlfriend, Emily."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you. Jamie has said such nice things about you." Riley says, extending her hand to shake the other girl's.

"It's nice to meet you too." She says back with hesitation, and then turns to Jamie with an annoyed look on her face.

"We've got to go feed the little actress now, so I'll…um… I'll see you tomorrow at parent pick up?"

"Yeah, definitely." She says, with a smile before walking back into the crowd to find her mother and little brother.

To say that the evening was a good one would be… well… it would be lying. It went downhill from the play, Emily obviously upset at Jamie, and Jamie obviously upset about the whole situation. Peyton had seen him talking to Riley when Emily had gone to find him, so she knew that maybe there would be some issues that come up.

Baley didn't want to go to sleep that night still reeling from her theatrical debut as the head flower. "Mommy, I don't want to…"

"Baley, honey, even actresses need their sleep. They call it beauty rest…"

She thought for a moment, "You must get a lot of that, Mommy, cause you're beautiful."

"I know what you're doing… and you're still going to bed." She says in a monotone voice to her daughter in response to her trying to butter her up for more time before bed.

"But I'm not tired."

"Really?"

"Nope… you have to tell me a story."

"Okay." She says, crawling into bed with her before starting to make up a random story involving some characters that she would know.

Five minutes later, she was fast asleep, so Peyton made her way out of her daughters room and walked past her son's to get downstairs. She heard him arguing, probably on the phone with his girlfriend.

When he came downstairs and plopped down on the couch next to Lucas and Peyton, she knew that it was Emily that he had been talking to.

"What happened?" Peyton asks from her spot, resting her head on Lucas' chest.

"She hates me and she's accusing me of cheating on her."

"You didn't."

"I know that, but she doesn't believe me. Riley and I are just friends. I just… I can talk to her."

Peyton and Lucas share a look with each other and she stands to go get some tea from the kitchen to give the boys some time alone together to talk.

"All right, I know that you just want to be her friend, but maybe there is something there."

"No, dad, I'm dating Emily… it's a simple thing."

"Now that is where you are wrong Jamie Scott. Love is not a simple thing by any means."

"Love? No, Dad, not love. I'm a sophomore in high school. This isn't about love, it's… I don't know what it is."

"When I was your age, I would have said the same thing, but considering the fact that your parents were married a year after their sophomore year, I bet to differ on that view of love in high school. And I can probably bet that if I would have known Peyton then, I would have been in love with her then too."

"You can't say that."

"Yeah, I can, and you know why?" he says.

"No, why?"

"That night that I met her we sat in the bar and we talked. Just talked and she opened up to me about things with her life, things that she admitted to me later were things that she didn't share. I did the same with her. At the time, I just thought she was amazing and maybe something would come of it, and I also tried to tell myself that even if we didn't end up together it would be great to get to know her."

"Well that's you and aunt Peyton, that isn't me and Riley."

"Funny, because your mom and dad were the same way too… just talking and getting to know each other. Your dad actually started hanging out with her to get back at me. But your mom wasn't someone you could use. She saw through all of it, and he opened up to her… if your heart is thinking about it, maybe you need to act on it too."

"What about Emily?"

"You need to tell her what you're thinking."

"And…"

"She might hit you, but regardless, you have to talk to her."

"You're right."

"Yeah… we usually are." Lucas says, his gaze meeting Peyton's when she walked back into the room.

Jamie shrugged his shoulders and made his way back to his bedroom, still processing everything that he was told and everything that had gone on that day and for the past few months.

Lucas and Peyton fell back into their same spots on the couch, leaning into each other, and Lucas turned off the television.

"This is going to get messy." Peyton says with a sigh.

"He's fifteen, almost sixteen… I know that."

"Did you mean what you said?"

"What?"

"About if you had met me in high school?" she says, looking up into his eyes.

"Yeah."

"Hmmm…"

"What, you don't think so?"

"No, I do… it's just nice to hear every now and then."

"Do you think we're doing a good job?"

"With what?"

"Jamie."

"Luke, Haley and Nathan would be so proud of that boy if they could see him, you know that."

"You're right."

"I know."

"We're doing a lot of that here recently."

"It's hard to be right all of the time, isn't it?" she says with a giggle.

--

Okay, I know that this one had a lot of Jamie in it, but I really want to explore the idea of an older Jamie, you know? Tree Hill the next generation kind of idea, but still focusing on everybody. Next chapter is going to pick up at the beginning of the next school year, are you ready? I'm excited! Keep telling me what you want to see/hear and I'll keep trying to do some of the things that you guys want.

D – Hope you're enjoying your trip!


	7. A New Year

"Brooke, you're crazy!"

"Why? I just wanted to throw him a little party!"

"Brooke, there is a beach full of kids out here, this does not classify as a little party!" Peyton says, scanning the beach to see a lot of Jamie's friends and a lot of kids that she didn't know.

"But it is tradition, Peyton! We always have to throw an end of the summer beach party. Don't you remember all the fun we had? We would go swimming and you and Jake would—"

"You and Jake would what?" Lucas says coming up behind the two women with Katie on his hip.

"Nothing… this is insane, Luke… how did you not stop her."

"Yer kidding, right? It's Brooke." He says with a raised eyebrow at his wife of ten years. "Besides, a lot of them are kids from the basketball team and swim team… and a lot of their parents are here anyways. It isn't going to get out of hand."

"Yeah, I can't believe some of these kids brought their parents. We definitely did this the right way." Brooke says with a confused look on her face.

"Brooke." Peyton says in a warning tone.

Putting Katie down to run around in the sand, Lucas puts an arm around his wife, pulling her close and whispering in her ear, "Why do I have a feeling that you were a lot wilder in high school than what you've told me?"

"Oh shut up." She says, turning in his arms and planting a sweet kiss to his lips that quickly turned into something more.

"Dude, you two better quit that, or I'm going to have another pseudo niece or nephew on the way." Brooke says playfully shielding her eyes and looking annoyed.

The two of them pull apart with shy looks to each other and blushes on their face before turning back to Brooke, whose eyes were nearly bugging out of her head. "You're PREGNANT?!"

"WHAT? No!" Peyton says, her eyebrows furrowed. "What the hell made you think that?"

"You just… I was saying… about another niece and then you two got all gooey eyed and blushy. Are you sure you're not pregnant?"

"No, Brooke, I'm not pregnant. Trust me."

"Well, that's a relief." She says, taking the arm of her best friend and telling Lucas to go enjoy the party so she can enjoy her best friend.

"What do you mean that's a relief?" Peyton says, mock hurt.

"It would just be crazy. Four kids! I mean, I know the two of you are all mushy in love still, but four kids is over doing it a bit, don't you think?"

"We're not having another baby, Brooke."

"Well, why not?" Brooke questions, seemingly upset.

"Are you joking? One minute you're upset because you think I'm crazy for possibly having another baby, and now you're mad that I'm not planning on having another one?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, you and lover boy need to start working on your own family and stop spoiling my kids."

"I don't think that's going to happen any time soon."

"I've seen the way Michael looks at you Brooke, he's in love with you, and you know it."

"Yeah, but I don't know how this is supposed to go." She says with uncertainty, stopping to face her best friend.

"What do you mean?"

"I just… I've dreamed of that guy and I feel like he's the one, but I don't know where to go from here, and I don't know how he feels about the future or anything like that."

"Something tells me that you two aren't going to be waiting much longer to take things to the next level. I think you're both ready for it. He's so in love with you it's kind of nauseating."

"Oh God, this coming from a woman who still fantasizes about her husband after ten years of marriage."

"What can I say… the man is wonderful."

"Oh, I know… trust me, I've heard… don't you remember that night I—"

"Brooke! That isn't what I meant!"

"No?"

"Yes, Lucas is good at… that part, but he's an amazing father, and he's the best friend, aside from you, that I've ever had."

"And you call me nauseating…" she says, and the two start turning back to the crowd and walking in silence.

The bonfire went on all night, the kids and parents running around playing volleyball, swimming, and talking with each other. It may not have been the wild night that Brooke was used to from when she and Peyton were in high school, but it was fun all the same.

Later in the evening, Jamie came up to thank her for all that she did before they left for the evening.

"No problem kiddo… you know I love you."

"Yeah, but you still didn't have to organize this huge blowout."

"Your aunt Peyton and I used to do this before the start of every new school year when we were younger, so I thought that I would let you in on the craziness."

"You and Mom were crazy when you were my age, weren't you?"

"Not too bad."

"yeah, that's not what Dad says."

"Eh… Don't listen to him, he's crazy." She says, smacking him lightly on the shoulder before plopping down in the sand and gesturing for him to do the same. "So, are you going to tell me what's taking you so long with this Riley chick?"

"She told you?"

"We have been best friends since the third grade, she can't keep anything from me."

"She's just a friend."

"Sure." She says, not sounding convinced.

"Aunt Brooke, she's just a friend."

"You know, you may not be Peyton's biologically, but you did pick up a few things from her… being really bad at lying to me. So, tell me what's really going on."

"After me and Emily broke up, I thought that it was a good idea, trying things with Riley. Then we kept talking and I thought that it might ruin everything with her."

"Don't you think it could make things so much better though."

"Aunt Brooke?"

"Jamie?" she asks back in the same tone.

"Can we just enjoy the last Saturday before school without all the drama?" he asks, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"And what do you suggest we do, Jamie Scott?"

"I vote that we go for a swim!"

"I could go for that."

They put the rest of their things down and Brooke grabbed Katie from Peyton before running down to the shore with Jamie. Baley was off with one of the younger siblings of one of Jamie's friends playing volleyball and having an absolute blast.

"He's going to be a junior this year." Peyton says with a far off tone to her voice as she leaned back on her husband's chest while they lay on their blanket set in the sand.

"I know, and Baley's going to be in second grade… that's crazy." He says, shaking his head.

"Then Katie's going to be in Kindergarten… they're getting way too old too soon. I miss it when they were little. It was easier."

He waited a beat before asking the question that was lingering in his mind after their earlier encounter with Brooke, "Peyton, do you want another baby?"

She sighed, looking up at him and then back to where she could see Jamie, Brooke, and Katie playing in the water, "Would you be mad if I said that I was okay with what we have?"

"Really?"

"Unless you want another baby… but I think that I am more than okay with the little family that we have now. We've done pretty good for ourselves here Lucas Scott."

"We have, and I think that you are right."

"You do?"

"Well, I was thinking the same thing. If you wanted to, then I would be on board. If you didn't want to, then I would be on board with that too."

"One of the many reasons why I love you, Luke."

"Well… we don't have to stop the baby making practice, do we?"

"Oh, that is definitely not something that we are going to stop. You're really good at that part of the deal."

"Another reason why I love you, Peyton Scott."

They laugh about it for a minute, sharing a few chaste kisses while watching their family run around celebrating the last weekend of the summer.

Monday, of course, came way too soon, and the kids were not too happy with the early morning wake up call from both parents exclaiming that it was the first day of school.

"Seriously, do the two of you get some kind of sick pleasure out of this?"

"Of course we do! We get you and your sister out of the house during the day… it's a dream come true for both of us."

"Mom, I love you, but please get out of my room."

"You know the rule on the first day of school, Jamie Scott. I don't leave until you are up out of your bed and in the bathroom ready to take a shower. I see that bathroom door shut and then I can leave you alone."

"Mom!!" he says, trying to wrap his pillow over his head to keep out her talking and the morning sunlight that was currently invading the room after she pulled the curtains open.

Peyton took this opportunity to walk further into the room, a clean room considering he was a teenage boy. She sat down next to his bed, so he was facing her at eye level when she whispered, "Jamie… come on my wonderful son… time to get up."

At this, he smiled, remembering when he was younger and was given the instruction to wake her up. Lucas had always assumed that he would run in and jump up and down to wake up his aunt. Jamie and Peyton knew though, that he would crawl into bed and whisper "Mom" to her in the softest, sweetest voice until her eyes fluttered open. She did the same in calling her his son, eliciting a smile from the boy.

"You ready for today?"

"Yeah…"

"Honestly?"

"It's a big year… hard."

"You've got Scott genes, so I don't doubt that you'll be wonderful."

"Thanks, Mom."

"You up now?"

"Yeah, Is dad making breakfast?"

"Yours and your sister's favorite!"

He smiles again before sitting up in bed. Knowing that he was in fact awake and going to get ready for school, Peyton walked back out of the bedroom and down the hall into her daughter's room.

"Baley, are you up?"

"Yeah."

She opened the door to see the little girl playing with her stuffed animals, dressed and ready for her first day of second grade.

"You excited?"

"Yeah, I like school."

"Oh, I know you do… you get that from your daddy."

"I do?"

"Yeah, Daddy's a nerd." She says, knowing full well that the statement is going over her daughter's head, but not knowing that her husband was leaning against the door frame when she said it.

"Excuse me?" he says, and she jumps at the unexpected sound.

"We were just talking about you, Daddy!" Baley exclaims, running over to her father.

"I heard. And breakfast is ready downstairs if Katie hasn't eaten all of it already."

Baley runs down the stairs quickly, leaving her parents still in the frame of her doorway, gazing at each other like they always did.

"I'm a nerd?"

"Yes."

"Really?" he says, inching closer to her so their noses were barely touching.

"umhmmm… but I like you that way."

"Be glad you're beautiful Peyton, otherwise I'd be mad at you for that statement..." he says, leaning in to capture his lips with hers, deepening the kiss until their hear a low groan and steps past them in the hallway.

"Seriously… Aunt Brooke is right, you guys are ridiculous. Ten years and you're still all mushy."

"That's love."

"Yeah, and the mushy declarations, the hugs, the looks, and the sweet little kisses are enough. In fact, I like that, and I never complain, but seriously… Dad, you… ewww… it's just not okay this early in the morning and in the middle of the hallway." Jamie says, trying to sound as logical as possible.

"Well, in two years, you won't have to deal with it anymore cause you'll be off in college."

"Yeah, but Baley and Katie and whatever future Scotts the two of you have planned are in for a lifetime of shielding their eyes, and I just assume that as the oldest, I should be the one to inform you that the two of you are too old to be doing that in public."

"Public, meaning our hallway… in our house… that we paid for?"

"uh… yeah." He says, not to sure of himself when Lucas put it that way.

"Okay...well, when you pay the mortgage, you let us know and we'll stop. " he says, laughing and turning to kiss Peyton square on the lips.

Jamie sighs before walking down the stairs to join his sisters for breakfast, again leaving Peyton and Lucas alone in the hallway.

"We are kind of bad when you think about it." Peyton says with a smirk on her face.

"Is it so wrong?" he says, shrugging.

"That you still make me blush like a teenager… I don't know. Maybe we could tone it down a bit around the kids?" she says, placing a hand on his chest, moving her finger around the muscles she found there in a seductive way that has him nearly glaring at her.

He kisses he again there in the hallway, letting the kiss linger longer than necessary. Pulling back he shakes his head and watches as her eyes slowly open in that droopy, sexy way that was only Peyton. "Nah, I'm thinking we're good."

They laugh at that and she hits him on the chest before both of them make their way downstairs to the kitchen, where they have found that they gained two children from the last time they were down there.

"Good morning, Riley! Good morning Tucker! Are you excited about the first day of school?" Peyton asks, greeting the two children that had become a fixture in their house over the past few months.

"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Scott. Yeah, we're excited."

"Their mom had to go in to work really early this morning and she didn't have time to make breakfast, so I told her that she could bring Tucker over for our first day of school breakfast. Is that okay?"

The Scotts were made aware of Riley's situation that summer, finding out that her sunshiny disposition came from overcoming a lot in her short life time. She had been adopted at two years old when her adoptive parents had found out that they weren't going to be able to have children. Of course, eight years later, the miracle that was her little brother was born much to everyone else's surprise.

With miracles can come some costs, because soon after finding out that she was pregnant, they found that her husband had cancer. An aggressive type, he was gone within the year. Between medical bills and raising two children, Riley's mother had to work very odd hours and long hours to make ends meet, so the Scotts understood completely when they started to hang around more. In fact, Riley often babysat with Jamie when she could or when Jamie wasn't available because of practices or games. It worked wonderful because Baley found a great friend in her younger brother, Tucker, and it only allowed Jamie and Riley's friendship to grow closer.

"That is more than okay, we always have room at the table." Peyton says with a smile.

"Thank you Mrs. Scott."

"You're never just going to call me Peyton, are you? Mrs. Scott makes me sound too old."

"You—" Jamie starts and Peyton gives him a look.

"Don't you start Jamie Scott, I am _not_ old."

"I don't think you're old, Peyton." Riley says, trying out the name that she had insisted Riley use.

"Well, thank you."

They ate together, talking about what was in store for them this year in school, what was exciting them about the upcoming year. Lucas finally looks up at the clock and realizes that he should probably get going if he wants to get to school early to make sure everything was set and in place for the day's classes.

"All right. Are you two walking?" he says, gesturing between Jamie and Riley.

"Yeah, we can just walk. It's a nice day." Jamie says, shrugging his shoulders.

"I've got to drop Tucker off to the before school program, so I'll just meet you there?" Riley tells Jamie, standing up and telling her brother to finish up his food and put his plate in the sink.

"Don't worry about him. I'll drop him off with Baley this morning. You and Jamie walk. It's your first day not on the bottom of the totem pole Riley Fox, don't you want to be the only sophomore to walk in on the arm of a Varsity Junior?" Peyton says, gesturing for Tucker to finish his breakfast and not failing to notice Riley's blush at her last comment.

"Okay, well, if you guys are walking, then I'm out." Lucas says, leaning down to kiss Peyton, but pausing right before doing so.

She looks confused for a moment, but the confusion turns into a smirk when Lucas turns to Jamie, "Is it okay if I kiss my beautiful wife before I leave for the day?"

Jamie rolls his eyes, "Come on, Riley, let's start walking." He says, before walking out of the kitchen.

"What was that about?" she asks once they hit the corner and turn towards school.

"Nothing."

"It makes you totally weirded out, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Them kissing in front of you."

"No… I mean… yeah. They just… they do it all the time." He says being teenage boy dramatic over the whole situation.

"How long have they been married?"

"I think about ten years? They got married a few months after my parents died, so when I was six. Yeah… ten years."

"Were they like this then too?"

"Yeah, I remember my mom always telling my dad about Uncle Lucas' new girlfriend. He couldn't stop talking about her. I told you this…" he says, turning to her with an expression that read as confusion across his features.

"You told me some of it, but it's nice to hear again. It's romantic."

"Romantic? That's my Aunt and Uncle."

"It has a lot to do with you though, you know." She says, catching him off guard. "They would have gotten married eventually, but they loved each other and you enough that they wanted to do it sooner. All that happened made them stronger. You helped them be stronger together."

"I never thought of it that way."

"You're a boy."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"You just don't get it. I love your parents… or… your aunt and uncle—"

"My parents…" he says correcting her because that was all he saw them as in regards to this particular situation.

"I love them. They talk to each other and care about what they are saying. They steal those looks when they think nobody is watching. They always kiss and say I love you before leaving to go somewhere. It's not only romantic, it's just nice."

"Nice?"

"I wish I had that back, Jamie."

"I'm—"

"Don't tell me you're sorry. I'm just saying that you're lucky to have that in your life, so don't take it for granted."

He considers he thoughts for a moment, letting them mull around in his brain as they walked.

When they finally got to school, just before the bell rang he turned to her, muttering an apology and then telling her she was right.

Her simple, "I know.", in reply was it. He was in love with Riley Fox. The simple way she said it, just how his parents would end an argument with each other, just hit him in such a way that it left him speechless. Without another word between the pair, she smirked and turned away from him to walk to class.

Maybe all those things that Lucas said were true, about finding that person where everything just clicks with. Maybe it was that simple. Simple never worked though. His parents didn't have it simple in the beginning or the end. Lucas and Peyton really didn't have an easy go at it near the beginning of their marriage. Riley was his best friend, a year younger than him, and she was… Riley.

--

Okay, I put a little more Leyton in this one in hopes of keeping people happy. I'm thinking that the next chapter is going to be a lot of Leyton, maybe Leyton going away for a bit for something like that. I don't know, but I'm sensing that you want more of that. What else do you want? Also, I really want to develop the whole Riley and Jamie relationship, and we're just going to say that you are going to see some similarities between them and the show's Leyton relationship. Not all the same, but there will be some things.

So yeah, tell me some things that you want. Next chapter is going to be set halfway through the school year, so get excited!

Review and tell me stuff!!


	8. You're Just You

Jamie walked in, slamming the door behind him as he did so.

"I know that you did not just walk into this house like that Jamie Scott!" Peyton says calling after him.

With no answer from the boy, she left the girls downstairs and made her way up to Jamie's room, knocking on the door lightly before opening. "War zone?"

"I don't want to talk about it, especially with you." He says, turning to her and giving her a look of absolute disgust.

"You better pull the hell back there James Lucas, because you are skating on some thin ice, and if you think you are going to get away with talking to me in that tone of voice, you are sorely mistaken my friend."

He sighed loudly for a moment, crossing his arms across his chest and sitting down at his computer chair without another word. Peyton sat down on his bed across from him, waiting for him to start talking.

"I'm sorry."

"Forgiven." She says simply.

"You want me to talk, don't you?"

"After the death glare you gave me, I deserve at least that."

"I really am sorry, I just… I hate that you and dad are YOU."

She laughs at the lack of sense the boy is making, "what is that supposed to mean?"

"In love with each other."

"I'm pretty sure we had this conversation a few months ago, Jamie."

"No, it's not that. I love that you guys are so… that. It just… Me and dad had a talk one time about how you met and how he saved you from some random guy. He told me that you would just know and it just made sense."

"Riley." She says, as more of a statement than as asking a question.

"Really? Did Aunt Brooke say something to you?"

"You're kidding me, right? The moment I met the girl I knew. Mom's know everything."

"How?"

"I still haven't figured it out. It's like Grandma Karen and the wedding. She just knew, and she still won't tell us how she knew about it. But, yeah, I've known that you were in love with Riley Fox for quite some time now."

He doesn't say anything for a minute, choosing to look down at the floor in front of him, almost waiting for her to ask him what was wrong. When she waited a bit longer, he spoke, "She's going out with Colin."

"Swim team Colin? Like your friend, Colin, the one who does the nervous hand through the hair thing?" she says with eyebrows raised.

He nods. He also smirks at how well she and Lucas know all of his friends, and thanks the powers at be for having such young parents that he can talk to about basically anything under the sun.

"Did he do the hair thing when he asked her out, cause seriously… very not attractive."

"He only does that around you, Mom."

"I so didn't need that information."

"Weren't you the one who told me that Aunt Brooke put Grandpa Larry on your bedroom door cause she thought he was hot? We talk too."

"Also didn't need to know that… So, what did you say?"

"What do you mean?"

"When she told you they were going out, what did you say to her."

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"We were at her driveway, so I just turned around and walked away."

"You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because she was probably wanting you to say something to her."

"Like what?"

"Jamie, she's your best friend, she wants you to approve."

"She doesn't need me to approve of anything."

"He's one of your friends, isn't he?" she asks him like it is an obvious thing.

He muttered under his breath, "not anymore."

"I hate to say it kid, but you have had plenty of chances to talk to Riley about how you feel, so you've got to cut her some slack with this whole dating someone else thing."

"Doesn't she get it?"

"She probably does, but seeing as how you aren't making any moves, maybe she just thinks that you don't see her in that way."

He stands up and walks over to the bed, laying down with a huff.

"Welcome to being a teenager. It will get better, I promise." She says with a pat to his shoulder, standing up and walking back out of the room.

The only thing that made the situation worse was that Riley was coming over the next day and night and the day and night after that to help him with Katie and Baley. Since Michael did finally propose to Brooke, and Peyton was so obviously named the Matron of Honor, Brooke needed help with the wedding planning. Lucas had to go into the city stuff with his new novel, so they decided to make a weekend out of it together.

Karen had agreed to check on the kids, but they knew that Jamie could handle Baley and Katie just fine for the weekend. He was nearly seventeen, and had helped with both of them from the start anyways. Again, the problem was that Riley had offered to come help him both days, bringing her little brother along to occupy Baley. It was months ago that they planned it, and it was before she decided that she was going to date Colin, and it was before Jamie walked away from her.

"So, you're going to be okay?" Peyton asks, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We're going to be fine, and if I need anything, Grandma is right down the street, and so is Lily. They can come over."

"What about the other thing?" she says, cocking her head to the side.

"It'll be fine. Chances are that she isn't even going to come over after the crap I pulled yesterday."

"She'll be here." Lucas, says, rounding the corner and catching the tail end of their conversation. "Trust me."

Peyton laughs and the two parents give out hugs and kisses to the crew, telling them that they need to be in bed at a reasonable hour, and telling the girls to listen to their big brother while they're gone.

"Call when you get to the apartment…"

When his second novel was published and then he had it in him to write a third, Lucas decided to buy back the condo that he and Peyton lived in for just a few months. Occasionally they go up as a family to visit Brooke and play around on the town for a bit, but it is mostly used when Peyton or Lucas need to go up for label business and publishing business.

Brooke always offered to let one of them stay with her, and even offered this time to let the two of them crash in her penthouse. With the look the two gave each other at the excitement of being alone for an entire weekend with no children, Brooke rescinded her offer.

"We will. Don't boss them around too much, okay?" Lucas says, and they finally leave for New York.

Just as the door shut, Jamie's smile could be seen, "Who wants to eat all the ice cream and watch movies?!" he says to his sisters who screamed out with joy at the idea.

He may be nine years older than one of them and twelve years older than the other, but they were still close. The age difference sometimes made them closer.

Peyton again silently thanked God for a best friend who had everything she ever wanted and a private jet to boot as they crossed the threshold into their apartment together in the early evening for the first time alone.

Once they got in and put their bags inside, Lucas dragged her back out, picking her up bridal style and carrying her inside.

"What are you doing?!" she squeals, laughing at his insanity.

"When I knew that I was going to marry you, I thought of this moment. Carrying you across this doorway and starting a life with you."

"Luke, we've been here since we were married."

"That we have, but not alone." He says with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"You do realize that I'm going to be doing wedding stuff with Brooke all day long tomorrow, and you've got to meet with your editor all day long as well."

"But the evenings are ours."

"I have a feeling that Brooke will—"

"No, she won't. I told her that since she gets you all to herself all day long, that you are mine in the evening Peyton Scott. We don't get to do this often, so I get you all to myself for at least a little while."

He sets her down in the living room, leaning in to kiss her sweetly. "This is weird…" she says finally, looking around the apartment with her eyes and then focusing back on him for a moment.

"Why?"

"I don't know." She says, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her head on his shoulder. "It's like a rewind or something."

"You remember when I asked you to move in?"

"I freaked out a little, didn't I?"

"You did."

"We hadn't been dating that long."

"Six months was long enough for me. Hell, I knew after two that you were going to be mine forever."

"Did that happen to coincide with anything in particular?" she asks, flirting with him because she knew the answer to her question.

"Maybe staying at Brooke's would have been nice… a little walk down memory lane."

She hits him then, laughing at the absurdity of their relationship and all of the craziness that they had gone through with each other to get to here.

"Did you ever think that we would get here? Three kids and a house in a small town?"

"Not the way it happened, but I knew that we would have that kind of a dream." He says with a confidence that has her pulling him closer and placing kisses along his jaw line.

They took advantage of that first night alone for quite some time, not falling asleep until well after they should have. Morning…well… Brooke Davis came too soon for either of them.

"Again, you two are just ridiculous." Brooke says loudly, hovering over the bed where her best friend had fallen asleep with her husband.

"Brooke!" Peyton screams, making sure that both of them were covered up with a sheet before turning to face her best friend.

"Peyton, we've got things to do today, and you guys have been married ten years and have three kids. You don't need to be doing this anymore." She says with a smirk on her face.

"In our defense, only two of them are ours biologically." Lucas says with a dirty smirk on his face to match hers.

Peyton laughs at the scoff from her best friend before her next series of questions, "Okay, first of all, how did you get in, and second of all why are you here, in our bedroom so freaking early?"

"You gave me a key the week you guys moved in here and we've got stuff to do, and it is NOT that early. It's ten o'clock, which obviously means that you guys were doing the nasty until late last night…" She says with a shrug.

"We didn't give you a key."

"Yeah, you did. Luke asked you to move in, and when you left, you gave me a key to this place."

"You do realize that someone else lived here for a while, don't you."

"So? I didn't ever use it."

That is how their day started. And after a quick call to their eldest, they were off in different directions to accomplish what they needed to for the day.

Jamie was rudely awakened by his parents' phone call, and then decided that he might as well get up anyways if they were going to do anything that he had told his sisters that they were going to do.

He was setting out cereal bowls and milk, waiting for them to come down stairs, when the knock came to the back door, which he went to open, and was quite surprised by.

"Hey." She says, walking in with her brother in tow.

"Hey…I didn't think—" he starts, before being interrupted by the rest of the Scott clan trying to eat and realizing that Riley and Tucker were there.

After a day at the park and then at the café for some lunches, they made it back to the house for another round of movies, this time with popcorn instead of ice cream. Of course since they had a long evening the night before the girls fell asleep about halfway through the second movie. Tucker did the same after he realized that they had given in to the sleep.

They carried all three upstairs and into their beds, putting Tucker in Lucas and Peyton's bed so Riley and Jamie could finish the movie and watch one of their own in peace.

"They were really good today." She says, tucking a piece of brunette hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, they were."

"Have your mom and dad called like fifty thousand times since they've been gone?"

"Surprisingly not… they actually trust me. Plus, Grandma Karen is right down the street, so they knew that I had the help."

"They knew I was here too."

"I didn't think you would actually show up after yesterday."

"What about yesterday?" she asks feigning cluelessness.

"The thing about Colin… and you… and you and Colin."

A blush rose to her cheeks that he had seen just a few times, and it had him uneasy in seconds. Apparently just the mention of the guy's name gets her all gooey faced, which automatically nauseated him.

"Yeah… you didn't say anything. You just walked away."

"Hence me thinking that you weren't going to be here today or tomorrow."

"You're my best friend, Jamie. I wasn't going to let you down." She says, turning to him on the couch and placing a hand on his arm.

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, acting like they were paying attention for a while with her hand still resting in that same spot from moments before.

"Why didn't you say anything."

"Because."

"Care to expand on that?"

She really was perfect in that not-so-perfect and totally unaware of herself kind of way. It killed him every time he thought about her, and Colin be damned, he wasn't going to wait anymore. He was going to take the chance. So, he didn't really say anything in response, he just leaned in and kissed her.

He had kissed girls before. He dated Emily all sophomore year almost, and they had kissed, and they had done… other things, but it wasn't what this was. This was as cliché as it sounded, fireworks. He was apparently turning into a big girl about the whole thing because that really was the only way he could describe it.

She kissed him back, too, after a second of what he assumed was freaking out and shock, she started to kiss him back. When they parted, both with a short sigh that spoke so many different things, she stood up, muttering something about Tucker and went up the stairs.

He followed her after she didn't come back downstairs for a few minutes, and found her outside his parents' room, where her brother was sleeping.

"Big mistake?" he asks, walking up behind her.

She glances back at him and back to her brother quickly, "No… I just realized that we have to stay here tonight. You can't drive me home and leave your sisters, and I don't have my license yet."

"A few more weeks and you can come and go as you please, right?"

She nods, and turns to him, wanting him to say something.

"I'm not going to say that I'm sorry, cause I'm not, but you… you're Riley."

She laughs for a moment, then leans up to kiss him softly on the lips, "I get that… cause… you're Jamie…Goodnight."

She walked into the bedroom and he was left to just contemplate everything that happened in the past few hours, their talking, their kissing, their talking and kissing. He had no clue what it meant, but he had a feeling that it could be something good.

--

Okay, a little Leyton, a little Brooke, some Ramie? Jiley?... Whatever… Yeah, so I'm hoping that you are all still enjoying this one. I've still got some ideas as to where I'm going to have it go, but I'm not sure yet. Any ideas from people are welcome!!

Thanks for the reading and the reviewing!!


	9. A Beautiful Family

"You've got a beautiful family" Mia says, glancing at the pictures on Peyton's desk.

"Thank you." She says, also looking to the pictures and taking a moment to smile to herself at the life she had made.

"You know, we've been working on this album for nearly four months, and I'm pretty sure that you know everything there is to know about me."

"Seeing as how I'm helping you live your dream, I would think I should have some insight into your life."

"Yeah, but I don't know anything about you… well, I know about you, but what about your family? Who are they?"

Peyton had always been that quiet person, sticking to close friends and not letting many people in. Until she met Lucas and what they had really was something with bragging rights, she didn't really talk about her life.

Mia had come to her five months earlier, explaining that she had heard of the small North Carolina label from a friend who played one of Haley's songs for her. She didn't know the history of it, but knew that the music was true and pure and everything that she had wanted. She had been in the shadow of another musician for a while, and the music she had heard made her realize that she had something to offer on her own, and sought Peyton Sawyer out.

"Really?"

"Yeah? I don't know how this label started, I don't know any of it…I'm just curious."

Peyton walks over to her desk to pull off the picture Mia had been staring at. It was a picture of the five of them out on Andy's boat the summer before Jamie had gone off to college, and they were all caught up in laughing about something that she can't recall now. It captured the essence of the family though, the good times they spent together, and the love they shared.

"This is my husband Lucas, whom you've met a few times. He was actually the one who convinced me to start the label. And this is my youngest daughter, Katherine Elizabeth, but we call her Katie. She just started first grade this year."

"She is the spitting image of your husband."

"That she is, which was his payback for my little twin, my eldest daughter Baley. Who, at nine years old, is almost exactly like her mother in every way. And this is my oldest, Jamie, who is in his first year at UNC right now."

"You have a son that is a freshman in college? That isn't possible." She says, looking the older woman up and down a few times.

Peyton smiles at the girl's shock. "While it is possible, I assure you, he actually isn't ours… at least not biologically."

Mia furrows her brow and Peyton sighs. If you weren't from this town it was a long and painful story to tell anyone, and most didn't question them having a son in college, for fear of bringing up the dreaded teen pregnancy taboo. Since Haley had been Mia's inspiration, Peyton knew that she would appreciate how Jamie Scott came to be a part of that family.

"Technically Jamie is my nephew, Lucas' brother's son. Both of his parents died as a result of a car accident when he was six. We were named guardians and fought for custody of him with another family member after nearly a year, and he's been mine and Lucas' son ever since."

"Wow."

She doesn't say anything for a little while, processing the whole idea. "Scott… Lucas Scott."

"My husband?"

"Haley James Scott was your sister-in-law?"

"At the time of the accident, she was just a great friend. Lucas and I weren't married yet."

"I never put together the two last names."

"I run the label as Peyton Sawyer to protect the kids and because that is the name that I started the company under, but most of the time, I'm Peyton Scott."

"Jamie was the one who helped produce Haley's album, right?"

Peyton nods, with a smile on her face remembering working with Jamie on the project for so many months when he was younger.

"You were how old when they died? Twenty-two, Twenty-three?"

Peyton nods again.

"And you weren't married, but you took him in like that? And then you fought for him later?"

"You act like it is some big surprise."

"You were so young though… and it couldn't have been easy."

"Oh, it wasn't, but we made it through, and Jamie is the best son that a mom could ever ask for. He made it so easy for us, and I don't think that either of us would have not fought for him. I hadn't known Haley and Nate that long, but in that short time, Haley and I grew so close together that I couldn't see anyone else being right for the job."

"Tell me about Haley…"

"Haley would have loved you. She had the same kind of spirit that you do, very passionate about what she wrote. It always had to have a greater purpose behind it or mean something special to her."

"So the last album that was put out was something that she had been working on?"

"We started it not long before the accident, and Jamie knew that she would have wanted it finished. So, I asked him to help and that is what bonded us together really." Peyton says with a shrug, again treating the story like nothing to be overly surprised about.

As she finished the story, her phone began to ring, and glancing down she smiled before answering, "We were just talking about you."

"_Who's we, and can I come home this weekend?"_

"Me and Mia. And no… hi mom, I miss you mom, how are my sisters mom, I'm good mom…?"

"_Can I come home this weekend?"_

"Obviously you didn't catch the sarcasm in that last statement."

"_Oh, I did, I just wanted to make you laugh."_

"How's my boy?"

"_In need of a clean wardrobe?"_

"Oh! So not only are you not caring to say hello to your mother, but you are telling me that you aren't coming home to spend time with your family but your family's washer and dryer?"

"_And Riley?"_

"You better be glad I love you James Lucas Scott, and you better be glad I miss you, because you can come home and as long as you have dinner with us at least on Friday and Sunday, I, your loving mother will wash all of your clothing."

"_Sweet! So, why were you talking about me?"_

"Another story for another day."

"_Are you at work?"_

"That I am. Why?"

"_Are you working with that Mia girl again?"_

"Yeah, I was just telling her a little about your mom and the album that you helped me produce. It's what made her come to Red Bedroom Records."

"_Oh, that's cool…"_

"Maybe you can come in and meet her during that busy Riley-filled weekend you've got planned…"

"_That'd be nice… I'll see you Friday night?"_

"Call when you leave campus so we know when to expect you."

"_Will do. Love you."_

"Love you too sweetie." She says and shuts her phone, turning back to Mia.

"What's this?" she say, pointing to a framed drawing that looked like it was torn out of a sketch book.

"That is the first logo for Red Bedroom Records, before I even had the guts to start the label."

"So, you made the logo before you actually started the business?"

"Long story."

Mia sits down in the chair across from Peyton's desk, putting her feet up across from her and crossing her arms at her chest. Cleary she was ready for any kind of long story.

They spent the next hour talking about the label and how it came to be with Lucas' talk on the night that they met. Then they talked about Karen giving her the space to move it to Tree Hill so they wouldn't have to relocate Jamie so soon after his parents' passing. Mia sat enthralled the entire time, gasping at the tale of Peyton's life story for the past nearly 13 years.

"You're my hero, you know that?"

"What?" Peyton says, shaking her head, and stepping back around the desk to sit down at her chair.

"You run a successful record label, you met your prince charming, you have three beautiful kids, and you have a smile on your face through it all."

"Did you miss all that drama in there?"

"No, but that doesn't matter does it? You got through it and now you've got so much to show for it."

Peyton sits for a moment contemplating the statement and realizing that things really had turned out for the best in every instance.

"Would you like to come to dinner on Friday night?"

"And meet the fam? Most definitely! Are you a good cook?"

"I can hold my own, but Lucas will probably be the one doing the cooking if we're having company over."

"He can COOK? Man you did score…"

She laughs, shooing Mia out the door and telling her that they would work some more tomorrow on recording a few tracks of her latest song.

Upon getting home, she found herself exhausted, having to make a million calls about a million different things after Mia left. She was met at the door by her eldest daughter who had a scowl on her face that only meant that her father did something wrong.

"Well hello my darling daughter, what brings you to the door."

"He won't let me do it!!" she says, throwing her arms up in the air and turning to plop into the kitchen chair.

"He won't let you do what?"

"He won't let me go to the movies with Jordan… even though our other friends are going to!"

"Baley, you are nine years old. There is no way that we are going to drop you off at the movie theatre to see a movie with your friends and no parents. Boy or no boy, that wouldn't have happened."

"You guys are so mean!" she says, huffing and puffing her way up the stairs.

"Goodnight!" Peyton calls after her, reaching into the refrigerator for something cold to drink before heading up the stairs.

Lucas finds her in bed, wrapped up in blankets reading just an hour later when he finally realizes that she is home.

"When did you get home?"

"You didn't hear the screaming?"

"I was in the zone."

"Yeah, I saw that you were working on your laptop, so I didn't want to disturb you. I'm tired anyway."

"Long day?"

"Fun day… but a long day after all the fun."

"And you came home to…"

"Our hormonal daughter. Seriously… Jamie didn't have these issues until Junior high, why are we having them now with her?"

"She's a girl… that's why."

"Seriously though, she's NINE."

"I know… but isn't that a typical girl thing?"

She gets a scowl on her face and he knows that he struck a chord with that comment.

"I should shut up now, shouldn't I?"

"Yup."

"All right. You all ready for bed?" He asked her, kissing her on the forehead before moving to strip off his t-shirt.

"Define bed…" she says, with a glimmer in her eye that tells him that she may not necessarily be ready for the sleeping.

"I thought you were tired."

"Oh, I am, but I've also missed my husband since he has practically locked himself in the office downstairs for the past few weeks."

"So you miss me?" he says, taking his pants off and climbing into bed in his boxers and nothing else.

When he pulls her on top of him, any tiredness she felt was gone, and they finally got to enjoy themselves after so many weeks apart.

Later, as they lay there, they slip into the casual conversation of a couple that has been together for years and years.

"Jamie's coming home this weekend." She says, tracing patterns on his chest.

"That'll be nice."

"And Mia is going to come to dinner on Friday night to meet everyone."

"She hasn't met everyone yet?"

"No, actually. I was totally surprised by that, but she hasn't. I was telling her about everything today… our story."

"A great story that is, you know?"

She nods her head, humming into the kiss she placed on his chest. "I hope this never goes away."

"What?"

"This… us."

"We said forever, and so far, forever has been wonderful."

"Eventful, but wonderful, right?"

"I think we can handle a few more curveballs, but I wouldn't change anything that we have right now."

"Mia made me realize some things today."

"Like what?"

"We really were thrown into this whole life… when you really think about it. But we have made it better than anything I've seen."

"Every now and then I think about that. Where we would be if Nathan and Haley were still here. I know we've said that before, but I still do think about it. And do you know what happens every time?"

"Hmm?"

"I end up with you, talking about our four children and dreaming about grandkids."

"Four children and grandkids?"

"I don't' know why, but that is what's in my head."

She laughs for a minute before turning back up to him, "So tell me what else is in your head?"

"What I just told you…."

"What?"

"I've been thinking so much about our story and the things that could have been different, so when I started to write it came out as a mixture of both. I was telling the story of us but at the same time I was telling what might have been."

"And…"

"And so far, what I've sent the editor, she's liked… a lot. They're already trying to generate some buzz about it."

"It's done?"

"No, I'm still a few chapters away."

"That's your fastest book yet, you know that?"

"It's a story worth telling."

"That it is…" she says before letting her head rest again on Lucas' chest, falling asleep.

The next morning, Peyton was nowhere to be found when he woke up, which wasn't necessarily an odd thing, but lately had been happening more often than not. He found her downstairs with breakfast on the table as she was on her way upstairs to wake up the girls.

"I missed you this morning." He says, pulling her to him for a kiss.

"I woke up early, got some stuff done, and I thought that I would make breakfast."

"How June Cleaver of you."

"For that wise ass remark, you can go wake up your daughters, thank you very much." She says, smacking him across the chest in a playful way that she has always done.

When they all get down to the kitchen, Peyton is scrubbing away on the dishes from making breakfast, making no motion to come join them for breakfast. "Peyton, you already eat?"

"I ate something right when I got up, so you guys go ahead. I'm going to get these done, and go up for a shower real quick. I was thinking about staying home and doing some work here instead of going into the office. I'll work upstairs though, so you can have the basement to yourself."

"Okay." He says, sensing something was off, but not being able to put a finger on it.

After seeing the kids off to the school bus, Lucas settled in downstairs, hearing Peyton every now and then moving around upstairs, and once calling down to him to tell him she was heading out on an errand, but would be back soon.

It was a productive morning, and he had finished the chapter he thought the hardest, talking about finally starting their own family, while in the alternate of that, they were watching Haley and Nathan add on to their family. But there were some spots that he couldn't fill in, and he knew that only Peyton could fix the writer's block.

Knowing she had come back, he went upstairs perplexed to see her things spread out on the coffee table, but no Peyton to be found. Finally going upstairs, he looked in the bedroom only to see the bathroom light on.

Placing his laptop on the bed, he found her sitting on the floor of the bathroom, her back against the wall and a few tears drying on her face.

"Hey…" he says, quietly, approaching her, and sitting down beside her.

"Hey…" she replies, not looking at him, but staring at the ceiling.

"You want to talk?"

"I haven't decided what to do yet, actually. That's why I'm still sitting here." She laughs.

"Well, I know that this is your spot, but the only time you ever let me find you here is when…." He trailed off when she picked something off the floor and handed it to him.

"is when I'm pregnant? Yeah, I bet you didn't see that one coming… I sure as hell didn't."

"So… what?"

"I don't know, Luke."

"Are you upset?"

"I don't know what I am."

"When did you start thinking that you were pregnant, and why didn't you tell me?"

"A few weeks ago I started getting really tired at night, but I didn't think anything of it cause I was putting in more hours at work and so were you… I thought that I was just worn out. But the past few days, I've woken up sick, so I finally mustered up enough guts to go get the test. I thought I was crazy, so I didn't say anything to you."

"So, we're having another baby…"

"We're having another baby."

"You know we are still pretty young." He says, trying to be logical about the situation.

"We're 36, Luke, we aren't that young. And we have a freshman in college!"

"Well, if you want to get technical, he isn't really ours…"

"But he could be! And we finally got Baley and Katie off to school… and now we have to start all over again?"

He puts his arm around her then, letting her shed a few more tears at the shock of the morning, "Peyton, you know that you are an amazing mom. I can't think of anything in the world that has made me more happy than to see you with our kids and to see them growing up… Jamie included. I said we could handle the curveballs. I guess this is it."

"So, you're saying we can do this?"

"I love you Peyton, and I love this baby, and I love our kids and our life… we can do this."

She smiles at him then, letting herself finally get excited about it. "So, how exactly are we going to break this news… especially to Jamie who is going to be almost twenty years old with a baby brother or sister?"

"I'm more thinking about Brooke, cause you know that she's going to flip when she finds out that you and her are going to be pregnant at the same time."

"She's got about seven months on me though, so you and Michael will only have to deal with another threeish months of us hormonal together."

"Thank God for that."

"So, we're having a baby."

"We're having a baby…" she says, kissing him hard on the lips and pulling back to see the smile reach his eyes.

--

Okay, so my friend had the idea of another Leyton baby, and I said that we had to push it off until the very end… not like the end of the story, but I wanted it to come up at the most random of times. I hope that you all think it interesting!!

Read and Review, and soooooooo sorry about the lateness of an update… school gets going and I fall of the face of the earth for a while. I'm also lacking my Leyton mojo with season seven, but I recently started rewatching season six AGAIN, so I'm in the full swing of things now! The next chapter will be just a few months down the road… not a huge leap like this one was.


End file.
